.  ' ,; 


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tn^^'1-^- 

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t^-^f 


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R,  P.  C.  WILSON. 

SPEAKER. 


PEN-PICTURES 


OF    THE 


OFFICERS  AND  MEMBERS 


OF   THE 


HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL  ASSEMBLY  OF  MISSOURI. 


BY    J.     T.     PRATT 


''Forsan  et  hacc  olim  meminisse  juvabit."—  Virgil. 


PRINTED    FOR    THE    AUTHOR, 

1872. 


TO  MV    FRIEND 

W.    R.    HARDIN,   Esq., 

OF 

PIKE  COUNTY, 
This  unpretentious  volume  is  rc?pretfully  dedicatee?. 


PREFATORY. 


The  series  of  person::!  sketches  oo«»ii  ibnt"<l  at  random  io  the  columns 
of  one  of  tlie  city  dailies,  dm  Ing  the  re^uVi-  session,  \vill  be  recognized 
as  constituting1  the  nucleus  of  ii'o  pre-cnt  voU';ne.  To  collate  these  and 
add  others  thereto  has  afforded  ihe  \\.nc.'  yle.tt-;|nt  employment  for  the 
leisure  hours  of  the  adjourned  .^o  -;o •».  rnd  ''\\  rtMnvu'i'^-  tl.'cm  io  the  public 
in  a  more  permanent  form,  he  be^.s  Ic.-vo  io  ^:-y  Jhat  lie  does  so  io  grafify 
the  wishes  of  a  few  personal  friends,  lai-i^r  iluin  jniy  vanity  of  his  own. 
He  may  also  be  permitted  in  this  comr-c.^i  fo  return  liis  thanks  to  Muj. 
T.  O.  Towles,  of  LaGrang'e,  for  ihe  valu^.l  a.-slr/^nce  on  va»ions  occasions 
.Hindered  him  by  that  gentleman. 


OFFICERS. 


EGBERT  P.  C.  WILSOX, 
(SPEAKER.) 

Few  possess  in  a  more  eminent  degree  the  qualities  that  combine  to 
make  a  good  Speaker  than  the  gentleman  upon  whom  it  has  devolved  to 
preside  over  the  deliberations  of  the  popular  branch  of  the  present  As 
sembly.  An  accomplished  parliamentarian,  correct  and  always  impartial 
in  his  rulings,  an  excellent  judge  of  human  nature,  of  suave  and  pleasant 
manners  and  at  the  same  time  of  unmistakable  firmness  and  decision  of 
character,  indispensable  to  the  enforcement  of  order  and  discipline.it  can 
be  said  without  disparagement  to  any  of  his  illustrious  predecessors,  that 
a  better  presiding  officer  has  never  been  placed  in  the  chair  he  occupies. 
The  unanimity  with  which  he  was  selected  by  his  party  associates  upon 
the  organization  of  the  House  was  a  compliment  and  mark  of  confident-t 
in  his  abilities  and  titne<s  for  the  place,  which  ]\l<  course  since  has  shown 
to  have  been  deservedly  bestowed.  As  the  first  Democratic  Speaker  of 
the  House  since  the  war  he  has  rellected  scarcely  more  credit  upon  him 
self  than  unon  the  party  to  which  he  has  been  a  lifelong  adherent,  and 
from  which  an  acknowledgment  of  hi<  faithful  services  was  justly  due. 
While  a  Democrat  of  the  strictest  school,  however,  1  believe  those  who  differ 
most  widely  with  him  politically,  will  agree  with  me  in  the  assertion  that 
so  far  as  his  course  as  an  officer  is  concerned,  he  has  in  every  instance 
ignored  party  and  partisan>hip,  and  invariably  shown  that  deference  and 
indulgence  due  the  minority  of  the  bod}*.  Mr.  Wilson  is  a  native  Mis- 
sourian,  and  at  present  a  resident  of  the  populous  county  of  Piatte, 
which,  with  his  worthy  colleague,  Mr.  Ballard,  he  represents  in  the  pre 
sent  House.  After  a  thorough  preparatory  education  he  entered  college 
at  Danville,  Kentucky,  from  which  institution  he  graduated  with  credit 
at  the  early  age  of  eighteen  years.  Upon  completing1  his  collegiate  course 
he  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  the  law,  which  he  soon  mastered  suf 
ficiently '  to  be  admitted  to  practice.  Immediately  on  receiving  his  law 
license  lie  joined  a  party  of  his  neighbors  who  were  on  their  way  to  Texas 
for  health  and  pleasure,  and  on  reaching  that  State  became  infatuated  with 
the  free,  wild  life  of  the  Southwest  Texan  border,  and  remained  there  until 
1858,  in  the  active  and  successful  practice  of  his  profession.  Returning  to 


PEN-PICTURES  OF  THE 


Aftssoun  dtftftfg  that  year  on  a  visit,  his  friends  induced  him  to  remain. 
He  then  ifembved<touid  Neighboring  State  of  Kansas,  locating  at  Leaven- 
worth.  Here  he  first  entered  the  political  arena,  and  in  1860  was  elected 
to  represent  his  county  in  the  Kansas  Legislature,  being1  the  Democratic 
nominee  for  Speaker  of  the  House.  Remaining  in  Leaven  worth  up  to  the 
close  of  the  war,  he  returned  to  his  native  State  and  his  old  home  in  Platte 
county,  where  lie  has  since  resided.  In  January,  1863,  Mr.  Wilson  was 
united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Murray,  of  Platte  county  ;  a  lady,  distin 
guished  not  alone  for  her  great  personal  beauty,  but  also  for  high  intel 
lectual  endowments,  and  all  those  domestic  virtues  that  go  to  make  up  the 
true  woman.  In  1866  he  was  solicited  to  become  a  candidate  for  the  nom 
ination  for  Congress  from  his  district,  and  with  this  view  canvassed  a  por 
tion  of  it  with  the  venerable  Judge  Birch,  Geo.  C.  Bingham  and  Col.  John 
Doniphan  as  competitors.  It  was  during  this  canvass  he  established  the 
high  reputation  he  enjoys  in  the  Northwest  as  being  one  of  its  most  effec 
tive  and  brilliant  orators  ou  the  hustings,  having  already  taken  the  front 
rank  as  an  advocate  at  the  bar.  He  was  taken  sick  however  after  having 
canvassed  about  half  the  district,  and  his  illness  being  protracted,  declined 
the  canvass.  From  that  time  until  the  general  election  last  fall  he  ab 
stained  from  any  participation  in  politics.  He  was  then  urged  to  become 
a  candidate  for  the  lower  House  of  the  present  Assembly,  which  resulted 
in  his  election  by  perhaps  the  largest  majority  given  to  any  member  of 
the  body.  His  course  since  his  arrival  at  the  Capital  is  well  known. 
Chosen  by  the  unanimous  voice  of  his  Democratic  associates  in  the  House 
to  preside  over  their  deliberations,  he  has  applied  himself  to  the  discharge 
of  the  task  imposed  upon  him  with  fidelity  and  that  energy  for  which  he 
is  characterized.  Mr.  Wilson  is  peculiarly  Western  in  manner  and  ad 
dress,  as  he  is  in  all  his  instincts.  Tasteful,  but  plain  in  dress,  with  a 
countenance  expressive  of  all  the  more  prominent  traits  of  his  character  — 
keen  perception,  indomitable  will  and  determination  strangely  combined 
with  a  good  nature  and  a  pleasant  expression  —  there  are  very  few  who 
have  ever  filled  the  chair  with  greater  grace  or  efficiency,  or  who,  give 
higher  promise  of  future  usefulness  to  the  State  and  nation. 


CYEUS  H.  FKOST, 
(SPEAKER  PRO  TEM.) 

Mr.  Frost,  Speaker  pro  tern  of  the  House,  is  the  Representative  from 
Phelps  county  and  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Mines  and  Mining.  He 
has  proven  himself  a  valuable  aid  to  Speaker  Wilson  in  adjusting  and 
keeping  in  running  order  the  parliamentary  machinery  of  the  House.  His 
rulings,  like  those  of  the  latter  gentleman,  are  invaribly  governed  by  lib 
erality  of  political  sentiment,  good  judgment  and  a  desire  to  conform 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL    ASSEMBLY.  9 

strictly  to  the  rules.  The  important  measures  that  have  been  intrusted 
to  his  committee,  namely:  the  establishing  of  a  mining  bureau  and  the 
measure  to  authorize  the  leasing  of  the  agricultural  lands  donated  by 
Congress,  so  as  to  render  them  available  i'or  the  education  of  the  youth 
of  the  Slate — have  been  promptly  reported  and  passed,  and  the  .'Represen 
tative  from  Phelps  has  thus  ful tilled  the  special  obligations  which  have 
attached  to  him  growing  out  of  measures  alfeciing  so  directly  the  school 
of  mines  located  at  Holla.  But  in  the  passage  of  all  la\vs  of  a  general 
character  he  has  taken  an  active  and  prominent  part,  and  his  opinions 
always  carry  with  them  weight  and  iniiuence.  Mr.  Frost  was  born  in 
Jessamine  county,  Ken  tuck)',  in  February,  1816,  and  is  consequently  55 
years  of  age.  His  father  em igraied  to  Missouri  in  l^l.  He  has  been 
almost  constantly  in  public  lite  since  18o7,  commencing  wilh  the  ollices  of 
count}'  assessor  and  sheriif  in  Crawford  county.  In  18-14  he  removed  to 
Texas  county,  where  he  again  tilled  the  oiliee  c  f  sheriff  for  four  years,  and 
was  elected  a  Representative  to  the  Legislature,  a  trust  he  tilled  with 
marked  ability  for  four  successive  terms.  Becoming  wearied  <>[  the  oner 
ous  duties  imposed  upon  him  at  the  Slate  capital,  he  refused  further  nom 
ination  and  was  elected  eouiuy  court  clerk,  which  office  he  held  until  l^('>'2. 
At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  he  removed  to  IJolla,  IMielps  county,  and  in 
November  of  that  year  was  chosen  State  Senator  from  the  Twenty-second 
district,  lilling  that  position  with  credit  for  four  years.  During  the  in 
terim  between  that  date  and  the  last  general  election,  he  has  been  en 
gaged  in  private  business  at  Rolla,  emerging  from  his  retirement  to  accept 
the  Liberal  nomination  for  Representative.  Mr.  Frost  commenced  life 
without  money  or  education,  and  his  experience  present  a  notable  exam 
ple  of  what  energy  and  application  will  do  in  gaining  a  competence  and 
securing  the  honors  of  public  office.  The  affability  of  manner  and  uni- 
lorin  kindness  which  mark  his  intercourse  with  his  fellow  members  have 
made  him  one  of  the  most  popular  Representatives  upon  the  lloor. 


D.  A.  SUTTOX, 

(CHIEF  CLERK.) 

Mr.  Sutton,  the  efficient  Chief  Clerk  of  the  House,  is  a  Xew  Yorker, 
having  been  born  in  Westchester  county,  in  that  State,  March  17th.  18,'JS. 
After  completing  his  education  at  the  \Vesleyan  University,  of  Connecti 
cut,  in  1S5S  he  became  connected  with  the  newspaper  press  in  Xew  York 
city  where  he  remained  up  to  1805,  when  he  removed  to  Missouri  to  ac 
cept  a  position  on  the  St.  Louis  Tunfs,  when  that  now  llourishing  Demo 
cratic  journal  was  in  its  infancy.  The  services  rendered  the  party  in  this 
connection,  and  especially  his  active  participation  in  the  canvass  of  1870, 
secured  for  him,  on  the  organization  of  the  present  House,  the  high  com 
pliment  of  the  Chief  Clerkship  of  that  body,  a  position  which  he  has 


10  PEN-PICTURES  OF  THE 

proven  himself  peculiarly  qualified  to  fill.  Possessing  a  voice  of  great 
natural  strength  and  clearness,  •which,  by  cultivation,  has  been  rendered 
thoroughly  under  control,  he  has-  especially  distinguished  himself  for 
his  excellent  reading  at  the  desk,  and  thereby  facilitated  in  no  small  de 
gree  the  business  of  the  session.  With  his  fine  elocutionary  powers  he 
also  combines  all  the  other  qualities  which  go  to  render  him  "the  right 
man  in  the  right  place." 


W.  C.  B.  GILLESPIE, 

(ENROLLING  CLERK.) 

Maj.  Gillespie  was  born  in  Cumberland  county,  Pennsylvania,  in 
December,  1830,  and  during  his  boyhood  removed  with  his  parents  to 
Muskingnm  county,  Ohio,  where  he  was  raised  and  educated,  and  where 
he  continued  to  reside  until  1854,  when  he  removed  to  Illinois  and  com 
menced  teaching  a  public  school.  In  1857  he  was  elected  Assistant  Chief 
Clerk  of  the  Illinois  House  of  Representatives.  In  July,  1SG1,  he  enlisted 
as  a  private  in  the  41st  Regiment  of  Illinois  Infantry,  was  promoted  to  the 
Adjutancy  in  March',  1862,  and  was  assigned  to  duty  as  Brigade  Quarter 
master  in  the  same  year,  in  which  capacity  he  continued  to  serve  until 
July,  1864,  when  he  was  mustered  out  of  service.  Within  thirty  days, 
however,  he  received  a  commission  as  Commissary  with  the  rank  of  Cap 
tain,  and  was  assigned  to  duty  in  Gen.  Custar's  Cavalry  Division,  where 
he  served  to  the  close  of  the  war,  being  promoted  to  the  rank  of  Major  by 
Brevet  for  meritorious  and  efficient  service.  In  1865  Maj.  Gillespie  settled 
in  Macon  City,  Missouri,  where  he  has  since  resided.,  Under  President 
Johnson's  administration  he  was  Assistant  Assessor  of  Internal  Revenue 
for  that  district.  He  has  always  been  an  unwavering,  consistent  and  en 
ergetic  Democrat,  and  has  been  a  constant  contributor  to  the  political 
press  of  the  country  since  he  was  eighteen  years  old,  and  is  now  the  edi 
tor  of  both  the  Macon  Times  and  the  Kirksville  Register,  two  of  the  most 
influential  papers  in  North  Missouri.  He  was  elected  to  his  present  posi 
tion  upon  the  organization  of  the  House  in  January,  1871.  a  position  to 
which  he  is  not  only  justly  entitled  on  account  of  his  valuable  party  ser 
vices,  but  more  especially  by  reason  of  his  personal  qualifications  and  fit 
ness  for  the  office. 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL    ASSEMBLY.  11 

J.  L.  DETCHEMENDY, 

(ENGROSSING  CLERK.) 

Mr.  Detchememly,  elected  at  the  inception  of  the  present  session  to 
fill  the  vacancy  in  the  Engrossing  Clerkship  of  the  House  occasioned  by 
the  death  of  Mr.  Matthews,  is  a  native  Missourian,  having-  been  born  in 
Ste.  Generic ve  county,  April  13th,  1828.  of  French  parents.  After  receiv 
ing  only  five  months  of  English  schooling  he  was  placed  when  a  boy  an 
apprentice  to  the  saddler's  trade,  at  which  he  continued  until  he  had 
reached  the  age  of  seventeen.  After  following  this  calling  for  some  four 
years  lie  commenced  the  study  of  the  law,  and  in  1840  was  admitted  to 
the  bar.  On  the  organization  of  the  Twentieth  General  Assembly  he  was 
elected  Enrolling  Clerk  of  the  House,  a  position  to  which  he  was  unani 
mously  re-elected  at  the  extra  session  of  the  same  body  in  February.  1SU1. 
lie  subsequently  served  also  as  Journal  Clerk  in  the  Twenty-first  Assem 
bly.  Xo  member  of  the  clerical  department  of  the  present  body  more 
fully  comprehends  the  duties  devolving  upon  him,  or  has  applied  himself 
more  assiduously  to  their  faithful  performance. 


J.  I).  CRAFTOX, 
(SERGEANT-AT-ARMS.) 

Col.  Craffon,  on  whom  it  has  especially  devolved  to  preserve  order  in 
the  hall,  and  who  has  proven  a  most  valuable  aid  to  Speaker  Wil-on  in 
enforcing  the  mandates  of  the  House,  is  a  native  of  the  Old  Dominion,  in 
which  glorious  commonwealth  he  was  born  in  1S24.  Leaving  his  native 
State  in  1837  he  immigrated  to  Mississippi,  \vhere  lie  remained  up  to  1MO. 
when  he  removed  to  Kentucky.  From  the  latter  State  lie  entered  the  ser 
vice  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Mexican  war,  throughout  which  lie  served  as  a 
Kentucky  volunteer.  In  18.~)6  he  removed  to  Missouri,  but  after  a  brief 
sojourn  here  made  his  way  to  Kansas,  where  he  served  as  a  member  of  the 
Territorial  and  subsequently  of  the  lirst  State  Legislature  of  that  State. 
Shortly  after  this  he  removed  to  Colorado,  of  which  territory  he  was  one 
of  the  original  settlers.  Here  he  also  served  one  term  in  the  Territorial 
Legislature.  Returning  to  Missouri  in  180('>  lie  settled  in  Kansas  City, 
where  he  has  since  continued  to  reside-.  Politically  a  zealous  and  uncom 
promising  Democrat,  he  is  nevertheless  equally  popular  on  both  sides  of 
the  chamber,  his  course  since  at  the  Capital  being  such  as  to  have  secured 
for  him  the  respect  and  esteem  of  the  members  of  all  parties. 


12    PEN-PICTURES    OF   THE   TWENTY-SIXTH   GENERAL   ASSEMBLY. 

GEO.  G.  BAETLEY, 
(DOORKEEPER.) 

"Uncle  George,"  as  his  more  intimate  friends  in  the  House  insist  on 
calling  him,  was  born  in  Kanawha  county,  Virginia,  November  9th, 
1825.  In  1829  his  father  removed  to  Missouri,  and  settled  in  Call  away 
county  when  that  locality  was  comparatively  a  wilderness.  Here  the  sub 
ject  of  the  present  sketch  was  raised  on  a  farm,  to  which  vicinity  and  voca 
tion  he  still  adheres.  On  the  organization  of  the  Legislature  of  1858  he 
was  elected  Doorkeeper  of  the  House,  in  which  capacity  he  also  served  in 
the  Democratic  Convention  of  I860.  He  was  elected  a  delegate  from  his 
county  to  the  Convention  of  1864,  and  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  pro 
ceedings  of  thai  body,  and  on  the  organization  of  the  present  House  was 
the  almost  unanimous  choice  of  his  party  for  the  position  he  now  holds. 
Though  quiet  and  unassuming,  "Uncle  George"  is  always  prompt  in  the 
discharge  of  his  duties,  and  is  universally  esteemed  by  every  one  from  the 
Pages  up  to  the  Speaker. 


T.  D.  EAPP, 
(OFFICIAL  EEPORTER.) 

Mr.  Rapp  is  a  native  of  the  Keystone  State,  where  he  was  born 
March  17th,  1840.  When  only  four  years  of  age  he  removed  with  his  par 
ents  to  Illinois,  where  his  youth  and  early  manhood  were  spent.  Here 
also  he  received  a  thorough  education,  closing  his  studies  at  Rock  River 
University  in  1857  as  the  valedictorian  of  his  class.  On  leaving  school  he 
applied  himself  to  the  mastery  of  the  "art  preservative,"  and  since  has 
been  constantly  connected  with  the  press  either  in  the  capacity  of  printer, 
reporter  or  editor.  He  has  for  the  past  fourteen  years  been  a  resident  of 
St.  Louis,  during  which  time  he  has  filled  the  position  of  local  reporter  on 
the  Press,  Dispatch,  Times  and  Democrat  of  that  city.  Either  as  a  reporter 
or  writer  he  is  exceedingly  rapid  and  correct.  He  has  discharged  the  dif 
ficult  duties  of  his  present  position  in  the  House  to  the  entire  satisfaction 
of  the  body.  He  also  filled  the  same  office  in  the  popular  branch  of  the 
Twenty-fifth  Assembly,  which,  in  view  of  his  avowed  political  differences 
with  the  rnajoi  ity  in  that  body,  was  the  highest  compliment  that  could 
have  been  paid  to  his  qualifications. 


MEMBERS. 


J.  D.  ABBEE. 

Judge  Abbee,  whose  name  occurs  alphabetically  first  on  the  roll  of 
the  House,  and  who  represents  in  the  Twenty-sixth  General  Assembly 
the  county  of  Polk,  was  born  in  Berkshire  county,  Massachusetts,  in  the 
year  1834,  and  is  the  only  gentleman  of  Bay-State  extraction  at  present 
sitting  in  this  wing  of  the  Capitol.  But  though  of  Eastern  birln,  his  early 
removal  to  and  subsequent  residence  in  the  West  have  rendered  him  es 
sentially  Western  in  sympathy  and  sentiment,  as  well  as  in  manners.  Be 
fore  he  had  reached  his  ninth  year  his  parents  immigrated  to  Illinois  set 
tling  in  Boon  county  in  that  State.  Here  the  remainder  of  }\\^  youth  was 
spent  and  the  rudiments  of  his  education  received,  which  was  subsequently 
completed  at  the  university  at  Heloit,  Wisconsin.  On  leaving  school 
he  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  the  law.  and  hail  prepared  himself  for 
admission  to  the  bar  when  the  late  war  breaking  out  IK-  enli-tedin  the 
95th  regiment  Illinois  infantry,  in  which  he  served  with  distinction  for 
four  years,  rising  from  a  private  to  i\\''  rank  of  captain.  I'et  timing  homo 
on  the  restoration  of  peace  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  and  in  tin-  follow 
ing  year  removed  to  Polk  county,  in  this  State,  where  he  has  since  re 
sided,  applying  himself  to  the  practice  of  his  profes>ion.  In  lsr,s  he  was 
elected  judge  of  the  probate  court  of  his  adopted  county,  a  po>Hion  he 
resigned  in  the  fall  of  1S70  to  lake  his  seat  in  the  present  General  Assem 
bly.  In  politics,  .Judge  Abbee  is  a.  Republican  of  the  liberal  school.  As 
a  legislator,  he  is  attentive  and  prudent,  and  although  seldom  on  the  lloor, 
is  a  logical  and  effective  debater,  lie  has  proven  a  most  serviceable  mem 
ber  of  the  committees  on  Constitutional  Amendments,  Township  Organi 
zation  and  Local  Bills. 


HENEY    ABBIXGTOX. 

Who,  with.  Mr.  Edwards,  represents  the  populous  county  of  Si. 
Charles,  is  a  native  of  the  Old  Dominion,  having  first  seen  the  light  in. 
Henry  county  of  that  commonwealth  in  the  year  1S08.  Leaving  his  na- 


14  PEN-PICTURES    OP   THE 

tive  State  to  seek  his  fortune  in  the  growing  West  he  located  in  1832  in 
the  county  which  he  at  present  represents,  and  where  he  has  since  con 
stantly  resided.  Securing  at  the  outset  the  confidence  and  respect  of  those 
with  whom  he  was  associated  in  his  new  home,  his  subsequent  career  has 
been  such  as  to  retain  for  him  their  good  opinions,  and  has  resulted  in  his 
frequent  preferment  to  office.  After  serving  as  a  justice  of  the  peace  for 
a  period  of  nearly  twenty  years,  he  was  elected  in  the  fall  of  1859  to  rep 
resent  his  county  in  the  popular  branch  of  the  Assembly,  a  position  he 
held  until  unseated  by  the  action  of  the  Convention  of  1861.  Being  again 
elected  to  the  same  office  in  the  fall  of  1870,  he  has  served  his  constituency 
in  the  present  Assembly  with  marked  fidelity,  and  while  one  of  the  oldest 
members  of  the  body,  has  been  an  active  and  earnest  participant  in  its 
deliberations.  Though  an  old  line  Whig  in  politics,  he  has  under  the  new 
order  of  things  allied  himself  with  the  Democracy,  and  been  a  conscien 
tious  and  consistent  member  of  that  party.  On  the  organization  of  the 
House  he  was  assigned  the  chairmanship  of  the  committee  on  Justices 
of  the  Peace,  a  position  which  he  has  proven  himself  especially  qualified 
to  fill. 


J.  T.  ADAMS. 

Dr.  Adams,  the  capable  and  wide-awake  representative  from  Butler, 
was  born  in  Humphrey  county,  Tennessee,  January  17th,  1827,  where  the 
first  nineteen  years  of  his  life  were  spent  on  his  father's  farm.  Leaving 
the  parental  roof  in  1846,  he  removed  to  Stewart  county  in  his  native  State, 
where  finding  no  other  means  of  livelihood  open  to  him,  he  engaged  in 
wood-chopping,  an  occupation  he  continued  to  follow,  until  by  the  strict 
est  economy,  he  had  accumulated  means  sufficient  to  enable  him  to  attend 
the  medical  school  at  Nashville,  from  which  institution  he  graduated  with 
honors  in  the  spring'of  1853.  The  scene  of  his  early  labors  has  since  be 
came  historic  ground,  the  identical  field  he  assisted  in  clearing  being  that 
upon  which  the  battle  of  Fort  Donaldson  was  fought  in  the  late  war.  Af 
ter  completing  his  studies  he  applied  himself  to  the  practice  of  his  profes 
sion  in  his  native  county,  where  he  remained  until  the  spring  of  1859, 
when  he  removed  to  Missouri,  locating  in  Butler  county.  Here  he  con 
tinued  his  practice  up  to  the  fall  of  1866,  when  accepting  the  Democratic 
nomination  for  the  Legislature  he  was  elected  to  that  office,  though  sub 
sequently  ousted  to  give  place  to  his  Radical  opponent.  Being  re-elected 
to  the  same  position  in  the  fall  of  1868,  he  was  in  this  instance  permitted 
to  take  his  seat,  and  served  with  credit  through  the  Twenty-fifth,  as  he 
has  also  through  the  Twenty-sixth  Assembly.  Seldom  absenteither  from 
the  hall  or  the  committee  room  he  has  proven  a  faithful  guardian  of  the 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  15 

interests  of  his  county  and  the  State.  His  commanding  figure  and  pleas 
ant  countenance  render  him  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  members  on  the 
Democratic  side  of  the  chamber.  He  is  an  efficient  member  of  the  Com 
mittee  en  Ways  and  Means. 


P.  M.  ADAMS, 

\V~ho  represents  the  county  of  Gentry,  was  born  in  Clark  county,  In 
diana,  in  1841,  received  his  academic  education  in  Montgomery  county  in 
that  State,  and  completed  his  sophmore  year  at  Hanover  College  in  1s"':.'. 
Abandoning  for  a  time  his  studies,  lie  enlisted  in  June.  1802,  in  the  55th 
Indiana  regiment  of  three  months  volunteers,  and  with  that  command 
participated  in  the  exciting  chase  after  Gen.  John  Morgan,  when  that  cav 
alier  ventured  with  his  command  north  of  the  Ohio  river.  On  being  mus 
tered  out  of  service  in  the  fall  of  that  year,  he  resumed  his  studies  at  Ann 
Arbor,  Michigan,  where  he  remained  up  to  the  summer  of  ls»;;j,  when  he 
again  enlisted  for  a  term  of  six  months  in  the  115th  Indiana  regiment. 
Leaving  the  service  again,  he  devoted  his  attention  to  school  teaching, 
and  in  connection  therewith  commenced  the  study  of  the  law.  Reinov- 
ing  from  his  native  State  to  Missouri  in  1*05,  he  lirst  located  in  Xodaway. 
and  afterwards  in  Gentry  county,  where  he  has  since  constantly  resided. 
Being  admitted  to  the  bar  in  ISO'J,  IK;  has  since  that  time  applied  himself 
to  the  practice  of  law,  in  connection  with  his  former  avocation  of  school 
teaching.  Receiving  the  Liberal  Republican  nomination  for  Representa 
tive  in  the  present  Assembly,  he  was  elected  to  that  ofliee  in  the  fall  of 
1870,  and  has  proven  a  valuable  member  of  the  body.  Though  rarely  a 
participant  in  its  discussions,  he  is  an  attentive  and  intelligent  observer  of 
all  that  passes  in  the  hall,  and  ever  watchful  of  the  interests  of  his  constit 
uency.  He  has  rendered  valuable  service  as  a  member  of  the  Committee 
on  the  Penitentiary,  at  whose  meetings  he  is  invariably  present. 


M.  S.  ALSUP. 

Mr.  Alsup,  who,  like  the  gentleman  from  Gentry,  is  among  the  quiet, 
though  none  the  less  serviceable  members  of  the  House,  is  a  native  Mis- 
sourian,  having  been  born  in  Greene  county  on  the  18th  of  September, 
1830.  Removing  in  1807  from  Greene  to  Howell,  he  has  since  been  a  resi- 


16  PEN-PICTURES    OF   THE 

dent  of  the  latter  county,  with  whose  interests  he  has  become  thoroughly 
identified.  On  the  murder  of  sheriff  Cordell,  in  1868,  he  was  appointed  by 
Gov.  McClurg  to  succeed  that  unfortunate  officer,  and  in  the  following 
year  was  elected  by  his  party  in  the  county  to  the  same  position.  Identi 
fying  himself  with  the  Liberal  Republican  cause  in  the  canvass  of  1870, 
he  received  the  nomination,  which  resulted  in  his  election  to  the  seat  he 
occupies  in  the  present  House,  and  which  he  has  filled  with  unobtrusive 
ability.  No  member  has  been  more  punctual  in  attendance,  or  a  more 
earnest  participant  in  the  deliberations  of  the  body. 


II.  A.  APPLEGATE. 

The  member  from  Uunklin  is  a  native  of  New  Jersey,  in  whicli  State 
he  was  born  December  28th,  1828.  Removing  with  his  father  to  Henry 
county,  Tennessee,  in  1839,  he  was  educated  and  resided  there  up  to  1858, 
when  coining  to  Missouri  he  settled  in  Dunklin  county,  of  which  locality 
he  has  since  been  a  constant  resident.  Though  raised  a  farmer,  he  has 
about  equally  divided  his  time  between  that  calling  and  merchandising. 
His  first  political  preferment  was  in  1866,  in  the  fall  of  which  year  he  was 
elected  to  represent  his  county  in  the  Twenty-third  Assembly.  Having 
secured  the  confidence  of  his  constituency  by  the  faithful  discharge  of  tlie 
duties  imposed  on  him  in  this  instance,  he  was  re-elected  to  the  Twenty- 
fourth,  and  again  elected  to  the  seat  he  occupies  in  the  Twenty-sixth  As 
sembly.  Though  an  old  line  Whig,  so  long  as  that  party  was  in  existence, 
he  has  in  later  years  acted  with  the  Democracy,  at  whose  hands  he  has 
received  frequent  and  deserved  recognition.  On  the  organization  of  the 
House  he  was  assigned  to  the  Committee  on  Roads  and  Higln\Tiys,  of 
which,  during  the  greater  part  of  the  adjourned  session,  he  has  served  as 
chairman. 


J.  M.  ASHER, 

Representative  from  Clark,  was  born  in  Hancock  county,  Illinois,  on 
the  6th  day  of  April,  1840.  During  his  infancy  his  father  removed  to  Mis 
souri,  locating  in  Adair  county,  but  after  a  short  sojourn  here  changed 
his  residence  to  Keokuk,  Iowa,  where  the  youth  of  the  present  Represen 
tative  was  mainly  spent.  Leaving  home  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  he  re- 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  17 

turned  to  Missouri,  settling  in  Sclmyler  county,  where  lie  devoted  his  at 
tention  to  reaching'  school,  and  commenced  the  study  of  the  law.  When 
about  ready  to  apply  for  admission  to  the  profession  he  had  chosi'ii,  the 
late  war  broke  out,  and  being  of  stronger  Union  proclivities  than  mo.>t  of 
those  by  whom  he  was  surrounded,  he  abandoned  the  Held  ot  his  labors, 
and  u'omn;  into  Kansas  enlisted  in  the  Gth  Cavalry  regiment  from  iluit 
State,  in  which  he  served  to  the  close  of  the  war.  While  in  the  service, 
he  was  several  times  wounded  in  action,  the  honorable  scars  ol  which  he 
still  bears.  On  the  restoration  of  peace,  he  returned  again  to  Missouri, 
locating  in  Clark  county,  where  he  has  since  made  his  home.  He  was 
elected  in  the  tall  of  1S70  as  a  McClurg  Republican  to  a  seat  in  the  popu 
lar  branch  of  the  Twenty -sixth  Assembly,  and  has  taken  an  active  part  in 
the  deliberation  s  of  that  body.  A  ready  and  lluent  speaker,  lie  has  parti 
cipated  in  the  discussion  of  many  of  the  more  important  subject.-  of  legis 
lation,  and  has  done  equally  valuable  service  as  a  member  of  the  Commit 
tee  on  Federal  J Delations. 


ANDREW  ACER, 

The  young  and  energetic  Representative  of  the  Second  district  of  St. 
Louis  was  b,>ni  in  that  city  Xovember  -_d,  1>U:2,  of  (German  parents. 
After  receiving  a  thorough  bu~ine>>  education,  first  in  the  public  schools 
and  afterwards  in  one  of  the  commercial  colleges  of  the  eilv,  he  applied 
himselt  to  the  avocation  of  book-keeping,  which  he  continued  to  follow 
lip  to  IS (.'»."),  when  he  commenced  the  study  of  the  law,  reading  for  a  short 
time  in  the  oiiice  of  Messrs.  Curtis  £  Moore,  and  afterward-  with  his  pre 
sent  colleague  in  the  House,  Col.  X.  C.  Claibornc.  Being  admitted  to  the 
St.  Louis  bar  in  ISiJS.  he  has  since  devoted  his  time  to  the  practice,  of  his 
profession  in  thai:  city.  In  the  fall  of  that  year  he  received  the  Democratic 
nomination  for  Representative  of  his  district;  in  tin-  Twenty-filth  Assem 
bly,  and  in  the  following  spring  was  nominated  again  by  his  friends  for 
aldernianic  honors,  in  both  of  which  instances,  however,  he  was  nn-uc- 
cessful.  Receiving  a  second  nomination  for  a  seat  in  the  J louse  in  the  fall 
of  1S70.  he  was  elected  by  a  handsome  majority,  and  >inee  his  advent  at 
the  Capital  has  full}'  demonstrated  his  lit  ness  for  the  place.  To  ^'-i  her 
with  his  labors  on  the  lloor  ot  the  chamber  he  has  proven  an  efficient 
member  of  the  Committees  on  Criminal  Jurisprudence.  Permanent  Seat  of 
Government,  Enrolled  Bills,  and  the  special  committee  of  the  St.  Louis 
Delegation. 


2* 


18  PEN-PICTURES   OF   THE 

W.  H.  BALLARD, 

The  popular  member  who,  with  Speaker  Wilson,  represents  the  county 
of  Platte,  was  born  in  Madison  county,  Kentucky,  January  25th,  1835,  and 
educated  at  Richmond,  in  that  State.  Removing  to  Missouri  in  the  winter 
of  1859,  he  located  in  Platte  county,  where  he  has  since  constantly  resided, 
and  with  whose  interests  he  has  become  fully  identified.  A  farmer  by 
avocation,  and  with  no  wish  or  ambition  to  abandon  the  quiet  independ 
ence  of  that  calling  for  the  seductive  uncertainties  of  political  life,  he  has 
neither  sought  or  held  any  public  place  except  the  seat  he  fills  in  the  pre 
sent  Assembly.  But  while  comparatively  a  novice  in  legislation  at  the 
inception  of  the  session,  few  members  more  readily  comprehended  the 
duties  devolving  upon  them,  or  have  discharged  the  same  with  more  scru 
pulous  regard  for  the  wishes  and  best  interests  of  their  constituency. 
Though  rarely  a  participant  in  the  discussions  of  the  body  he  is  a  close 
and  intelligent  observer,  and  generally  entertains  positive  opinions  on  all 
subjects  of  importance.  On  the  organization  ol  the  House  he  was  as 
signed  by  his  colleague  a  place  on  the  committees  on  County  Boundaries, 
Justices  of  the  Peace  and  the  Blind  Asylum,  the  duties  growing  out  of 
which  he  has  faithfully  performed.  Politically,  Mr.  Ballard  is  a  Democrat 
of  the  strictest  school. 


J.  B.  BARNES. 

This  gentleman,  in  whom  the  county  of  Reynolds  has  found  a  faithful 
Representative  in  the  popular  branch  of  the  present  Legislature,  is  a  na 
tive  Missourian,  having  been  born  at  Pilot  Knob  in  what  is  now  Iron 
county,  January  1st,  1837.  In  the  following  year  his  father  removed  from 
Iron  into  what  is  now  Reynolds  county.  Here  the  youth  of  the  present 
member  was  spent  on  a  farm.  Upon  attaining  his  majority  however,  he 
abandoned  farming  and  applied  himself  to  the  trade  of  blacksmithing, 
which  he  continued  to  follow  up  to  1866.  In  the  fall  of  that  year  he  was 
elected  sheriff  of  Reynolds  county,  an  office  to  which  he  was  re-elected  in 
the  fall  of  1868.  On  the  expiration  of  the  second  term  of  his  sheriffalty 
he  accepted  the  nomination  for  Representative  of  his  county  in  the  As 
sembly,  a  position  to  which  he  was  elected  in  the  fall  of  1870.  His  course 
as  a  member  of  the  House  has  been  marked  by  close  attention  to  the  duties 
devolving  on  him  both  during  session  hours  and  in  the  committee  room. 
Although  a  Democrat  politically,  he  is  scarcely  more  popular  personally 
with  his  party  friends  than  with  those  with  whom  he  most  widely  differs. 
He  has  proven  a  valuable'member  of  the  Committee  on  Revised  and  Un 
finished  Business. 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  19 

J.  W.  BARRETT. 

Either  in  his  personal  intercourse  with  his  associates  or  on  the  floor 
of  the  House,  there  is  no  member  more  respected  or  in  the  fullest  accepta 
tion  of  the  word,  more  popular  than  the  clear-headed,  good  natured,  and 
nt  the  same  time  dignified  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Accounts.  The 
peculiarity  of  the  position  he  fills  renders  it  necessary  that  he  should 
know,  and  be  known  to  everybody,  from  the  Pages  up  to  the  Speaker.  His 
bold  and  characteristic  chirography  is  a  sine  g>m  nun  on  the  warrants  on 
the  treasury,  and  his  name  is  equally  respected  in  that  department  and  in 
the  House.  Mr.  Barrett  is  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  having  been  born  in 
Luzerne  county,  in  that  State,  in  1822.  Enjoying  the  opportunities  of 
common  school  and  academic  instruction  in  early  life,  he  subsequently,  by 
his  own  unaided  efforts,  acquired  a  thorough  collegiate  education,  gradu 
ating  at  Dickinson  college,  in  his  native  State,  {laving  completed  his 
studies,  he  continued  to  devote  his  attention  to  the  subject  of  education, 
and  from  18.14  to  1850  was  superintendent  of  public  schools  in  Lycoming 
county,  one  of  the  wealthiest  and  most  intelligent  communities  in  the 
Keystone  State.  At  the  same  time  he  also  turned  his  attention  to  journal 
ism,  and  successfully  conducted  for  a  number  of  years  the  IndejH 
/Ve.s-x  at  AVilliamsport.  Subsequently  emigrating  westward,  he  located  in 
St.  Louis,  where  lie  remained  two  years,  when  he  removed  to  Canton,  to 
take  charge  of  the  Seminary  at  that  place.  Here  he  established  the  Can 
ton  7Vr>'.s  in  1802,  which  he  has  successfully  conducted  up  to  the  present 
time.  Mr.  Barrett  is  among  the  most  prominent  members  of  the  I.  (.).  O. 
F.  in  the-  State,  having  been  elected  (Jraud  Master  of  the  Urand  Lodge  in 
18(18,  and  a  representative  of  the  order  in  the  State  in  tin;  Grand  Lodge  of 
the  United  Staters  in  18(51).  In  addition  to  his  other  honors,  Mr.  Barrett 
was  al-o  elected  the  first  President  of  the  State  Editorial  association,  p re 
siding  at  its  regular  sessions  in  l8i;S-(>{)-70.  He  holds  his  present :  seat  in 
the  House  ns  the  lieprcseiitativc  from  the  flourishing  county  of  Lewis,  by 
the  wish  of  his  constituency  expressed  in  a  majority  of  512  votes.  n,>_ 
sides  holding  the  responsible  chairmanship  of  the  Committee  on  Accounts, 
he  is  also  a  hard-working  and  faithful  member  of  the  Committees  on  Print 
ing,  Education  and  Benevolent  ar.d  Scientific  Institutions.  Physically 
speaking,  Mr.  Barrett  is  the  heavy  man  of  the  body  to  which  he  belongs, 
and  could  probably  lift  the  beam  at  a  weight  of  250  pounds. 


J.  L.  BASS. 

There  are  few  better  looking1,  and  certainly  no  better  members  on  the 
Democratic  side  of  the  hall,  than  the  estimable  gentleman  who,  with 
Judge  Newman,  represents  the  old  and  populous  county  of  Boone.  Mr. 
Bass  is  a  native  Missourian,  having  been  born  October  20th,  1837,  in  the 


20  PEN-PICTURES    OF   THE 

county  whose  interests  are  entrusted  to  his  charge  in  the  popular  branch 
of  the  present  Assembly.  Since  at  the  Capital  his  record  has  been  that  of 
a  quiet  and  laborious  member.  Though  entertaining  decided  opinions  on 
all  subjects  of  importance  to  his  immediate  constituency  or  the  State  at 
large,  he  has  seldom  trespassed  on  the  time  of  the  House,  and  never,  I  be 
lieve,  inllicted  on  the  body  a  set  speech.  An  independent,  well-to-do 
farmer,  he  has  never  aspired  to  or  held  any  office  except  his  present  seat, 
a  fact  I  conceive  to  be  attributable  rather  to  a  naturally  unobtrusive  dis 
position  than  any  lack  of  regard  or  appreciation  on  the  part  of  his  con 
stituency.  Besides  his  labors  during  session  hours,  he  has  served  effici 
ently  as  a  member  of  the  important  Committees  on  the  Insane  and  Deaf 
and  Dumb  Asylums  and  the  Committee  on  Agriculture. 


N.  M.  BELL, 

The  young  gentleman  who  represents  the  Fifth  district  of  St.  Louis 
is  also  a  native  Missourian,  having  been  born  in  Lincoln  county.  Novem 
ber  2d,  1842.  After  completing  his  studies  in  the  schools  of  his  native 
county  he  removed  to  the  metropolis,  where  he  devoted  his  attention  to 
mercantile  pursuits  up  to  1864.  In  the  spring  of  that  year  he  crossed  the 
plains  to  the  Pacific  seaboard,  encountering  on  the  journey  numerous 
hazardous  adventures  with  the  Indians.  In  one  engagement  near  the 
famous  Horseshoe  Bend  eight  out  of  eleven  of  his  companions  were  mas 
sacred  and  he  barely  escaped  under  cover  of  the  darkness  of  the  night. 
After  spending  several  months  in  the  mines  of  Idaho  he  visited  California, 
Oregon,  Nevada  and  subsequently  Mexico  and  South  America.  Return 
ing  to  Oregon  in  1867,  he  was  sent  as  a  delegate  from  that  State  to  the 
National  Democratic  Convention  which  assembled  in  New  York  in  the 
following  year.  Shortly  after  this  returning  to  St.  Louis,  he  engaged  ac 
tively  in  the  grain  trade  in  that  city,  to  which  he  continued  to  devote  his 
attention  up  to  the  fall  of  1870,  when  he  was  elected  as  the  Democratic 
candidate  of  the  Fifth  representative  district  to  the  seat  he  has  creditably 
filled  in  the  present  House.  Few  among  the  younger  members  of  the 
body  have  taken  a  more  active  part  in  its  deliberations.  Mr.  Bell  is  a 
member  of  the  Committees  on  Internal  Improvements,  Lunatic  Asylum, 
Local  Bills  and  the  special  committee  of  the  St.  Louis  Delegation. 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  21 

A    F.  BELTBAMI, 

Who,  as  his  appearance  not  less  than  his  name  would  indicate,  is  ol" 
French  extraction  and  a  native  of  the  old  French  town  of  Ste.  Genevieve, 
in  which  he  was  born  December  Oth,  1843.  With  the  exception  of  a  short 
interval  in  the  years  1S05  and  ?OG,  during  whicli  he  was  engaged  in  mining- 
in  Colorado,  he  has  been  a  constant  resident  of  his  native  city  and  the 
comity  lie  now  represents  in  tin;  lower  House.  Though  his  occupation  is 
and  has  been  that  of  a  merchant,  he  has  at  times  tilled  various  subordinate 
positions  in  the  otlices  of  sheriff  and  circuit  clerk  of  his  county.  By  this 
means  he  has  become  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  wants  and  interests 
of  his  constituency  which,  as  their  Representative,  lie  has  proven  himself 
i-ver  ready  to  promote.  In  personal  appearance  he  is  perhaps  the  hand 
somest  member  of  the  Southeastern  delegation,  lie  is  a  member  of  the 
responsible  Committee  on  Accounts. 


W.  II.  BENNETT, 

Who  represented  the  county  of  Perry  in  the  Twenty-fifth  and  has  been 
returned  by  his  constituency  to  the  Twenty-sixth  Assembly,  isaiia'ive 
of  Alabama,  having  been  born  in  Madison  cotiniy,  in  that  .State,  January 
Oth,  L>;57.  His  parents,  who  were  exceedingly  poor,  removed  from  Ala 
bama  a  few  months  after  his  birth,  locating  lir>t  at  Nashville,  Teiine-Mr, 
and  subsequently  in  Jackson  county,  Illinois.  In  the  latter  locality  the 
present  Representative  was  kept  at  work  on  his  father's  farm  until  he  had 
reached  his  fifteenth  year,  when  his  parents,  pulling  up  stakes  again,  re 
moved  to  Missouri.  After  visiting  various  counties  in  the  Southeastern 
portion  ot  the  State,  they  finally  located  in  Stoddard  county  where  young 
Bennett  again  went  to  work  on  a  farm.  After  remaining  here  a  fe\v 
months  and  having  reached  his  nineteenth  year,  he  left  his  home  and  with 
out  a  cent  in  his  pocket  started  out  in  the  Avorld  to  seek  his  fortune.  Mak 
ing  his  way  to  Cape  Girardeau  he  sought  and  found  employment  Jirst  as  u 
wood-chopper  and  afterwards  as  a  teamster.  After  a  brief  sojourn  here 
he  removed  to  Perry  county,  where  he  went  to  work  as  a  farm  hand,  an 
occupation  he  continued  to  follow  until  by  strict  economy  he  had  accumu 
lated  means  sufficient  to  enable  him  to  attend  school.  After  attending 
school  for  a  short  period  he  applied  himself  to  school  teaching  in  connec 
tion  with  the  study  of  the  law,  and  in  isii?  had  made  sufficient  progress 
in  his  studies  to  enable  him  to  graduate  from  the  law  department  of  Mc- 
Kendree  College,  Illinois.  In  the  mean  time  he  had  also  taken  part  in  the 
civil  war,  entering  and  continuing  in  the  Federal  service  as  long  as  his 
conservative  sentiments  would  permit  him  to  do  so.  Since  graduating  he 
has  devoted  himself  to  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Perry  county. 
Mr.  Bennett  is  essentially  a  self-made  man.  As  a  legislator  he  is  labori- 


22  PEN-PICTURES    OF   THE 

ous,  clear-headed  and  conscientious,  and  as  a  speaker,  fluent,  forcible  and 
continuous.  Politically  he  is  a  life-Ion g  Democrat.  He  has  proven  a  val 
uable  member  of  the  Committees  on  Criminal  Jurisprudence,  Elections 
and  Enrolled  Bills. 


JOHN  L.  BITTINGER. 

Mr.  Bittinger  occupies  a  seat  in  the  Legislature  this  winter  as  the  suc 
cessor  of  the  present  State  Treasurer,  Samuel  Hays,  from  the  First  rep 
resentative  district  of  Buchanan  county,  embracing  the  greater  portion  of 
the  flourishing  city  of  St.  Joseph.  A  Pennsylvania  Dutchman,  in  which 
State  and  condition  he  was  born  in  1833,  Major  Bittinger  is  still  essen 
tially  VVestern  in  all  his  instincts,  as  he  is  also  in  his  manners.  Emigrat 
ing  from  his  native  State,  he  located  in  St.  Louis  in  1855,  and  after  a  resi 
dence  of  five  years  in  that  city,  removed  still  further  westward,  locating 
at  St.  Joseph,  where,  with  the  exception  of  short  intervals,  he  has  since 
resided.  In  1861  he  was  appointed  postmaster  at  St.  Joseph,  and  which 
he  was  up  to  1865.  A  practical  printer  by  early  education,  he  is  among 
those  who  have  worked  their  way  from  the  "case1*  into  the  "sanctum." 
.Since  the  establishment  of  the  St.  Joseph  Herald,  in  1862,  he  has  been  the 
editorial  head  of  th-it  vigorous  Radical  sheet,  and,  with  C.  B.  Wilkerson, 
has  contributed  largely  to  the  success  and  prosperity  the  enterprise  has 
achieved  as  the  mouth-piece  of  the  party  in  the  Northwest.  "Major  Bittin 
ger  is  by  no  means  a  novice  in  legislation,  having  served  his  present 
constituency  in  the  Twenty-second  Assembly,  of  which  he  was  Speaker 
pro  tem.,  and  his  return  gives  evidence  of  the  confidence  imposed  in  his  in 
tegrity  and  ability.  During  the  war  he  was  aid-de-camp  to  Governor 
Willard  P.  Hall,  in  which  position  he  rendered  efficient  service  to  that 
officer.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the  commission  appointed  by  the  Sec 
retary  of  War  in  1862  to  assess  damages  sustained  by  "  loyal"  sufferers  by 
the  war,  which  commission,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  afterward  dis 
solved  without  results.  Connected  with  the  press  in  one  capacity  or  an 
other  from  boyhood  up,  Mr.  Bittinger  has  occupied  numerous  positions 
of  honor  and  responsibility,  and  to  his  thorough  knowledge  of  his  busi 
ness  in  all  its  intricacies  is  mainly  due  the  success  of  the  Herald.  A  man 
of  energy  arid  resource,  he  is,  perhaps,  capable  of  more  hard  work,  either 
of  head  or  hand,  than  any  member  on  the  Radical  side  of  the  House.  He 
is  an  admitted  shrewd  manager,  and  measures  to  which  he  has  devoted 
himself  in  his  party  have  seldom  failed  of  success.  Asa  speaker,  he  is 
always  brief,  sententious  and  pointed,  and  without  pretention  to  oratory, 
he  is  nevertheless  effective  and  always  conspicuous  and  convincing.  Of 
about  the  average  stature,  he  is  of  robust,  and  yet  compact  build,  with  an 
open  expression  and  unusually  intelligent  countenance,  and  by  the  most 
casual  observer  would  be  taken  for  what  he  is— one  of  the  leading  mem- 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  23 

bers  on  the  Radical  side  of  the  chamber.  Mr.  Bittinger  is  chairman  of  the 
important  Committees  on  Internal  Improvements  and  Insurance,  and  also 
a  member  of  the  Committees  on  Retrenchment  and  Reform,  on  Printing 
and  Congressional  Apportionment. 


J.  II.  BOHN. 

The  jocose  and  good  natured  Representative  from  Benton  count}',  is 
also  a  native  of  the  Keystone  State,  in  Franklin  county,  of  which  com 
monwealth,  he  first  saw  the  light  in  the  "Ides  of  Man-h,"  1Xi2h.  En  18:52 
his  father  removed  with  his  family  to  Stark  county,  Ohio,  where  the  pres 
ent  Representative,  to  use  his  own  language,  commenced  his  collegiate 
course  in  a  log  school  house.  Shortly  after  this,  on  losing  his  mother, 
he  returned  to  the  place  of  his  birth,  and  thence  made  his  way  to  Balti 
more,  where  he  placed  himself  under  the  care  and  tuition  of  his  father's 
brother,  a  gentleman  of  the  highest  moral  character  and  great  piety.  Re^ 
maining  here  but  a  short  time,  however,  he  left  his  relative's  root',  the  cause 
of  difference  between  them,  again  to  employ  his  own  language,  being, 
that  while  his  pious  preceptor  strove  to  direct  his  efforts  toward  the  pul 
pit,  his  own  inclination  and  special  qualitications  pointed  in  the  direriion 
of  the  stage.  After  leaving  Baltimore,  he  oscillated  for  a  number  ofyear.^ 
between  the  States  of  Pennsylvania,  Illinois,  and  Ohio,  finally  bringing 
up  in  Springfield,  in  the  last  named  Slate,  in  18.~>0,  where  in  the  office  of 
the  lion.  Samuel  Shcllabarger,  he  commenced  the  study  of  law.  After 
completing  his  studies  and  being  admitted  to  the  bar,  he  returned  to  Illi 
nois,  where,  at  the  first  call  for  troops  for  the  late  war,  he  entered  the  i.-Jd 
Illinois  regiment,  in  which  he  served  as  a  Major  until  UK;  restoration  of 
peace.  On  leaving  the  service  he  settled  in  Benton  count}',  in  this  State.1, 
where  he  became  engaged  in  lead  mining,  and  where  he  at  present  holds 
the  position  of  superintendent  of  the  Pioneer  Mining  and  Smelting  Com 
pany.  In  18(50  he  was  elected  public  administrator  of  his  adopted  county, 
ami  in  1SG8  was  elected  to  a  seat  in  the  lower  house  of  the  (leneral  Assem 
bly,  a  position  to  which  he  was  re-elected  in  the  fall  of  1870.  Politically 
he  was  an  old  line  Whig,  though  his  course  in  Missouri  has  been  that  of 
a  Republican  of  the  liberal  school.  In  his  personal  associations  at  the 
capital  he  has  rendered  himself  universally  popular,  and  as  the  original 
"  Little  Brown  Jug,"  will  be  long  remembered  after  his  scat  shall  have 
been  tilled  by  a  more  sedate  member, 


24  PEN-PICTURES    OF    THE 

WILLIAM  BOSBYSHELL. 

No  member  of  the  present  Assembly  more  thoroughly  represents-  the 
practical,  common  sense,  working  class  than  Mr.  Bosbyshell,  of  the  Eighth 
representative  district  of  St.  Louis.  Economy  and  practical  legislation  are 
his  strong  hobbies.  Seldom  or  never  absent  from  his  post,  he  invariably 
records  his  vote  in  strict  accordance  with  his  ideas  of  what  is  right  and 
proper.  Mr.  Bosbyshell  is  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  having  been  born  in 
the  Quaker  city  in  1827.  At  the  early  age  of  thirteen  he  emigrated  to  the 
West,  where  he  has  since/been  eng'iged  in  active  pursuits,  and  by  strict 
attention  to  business,  indefatigable  energy  and  unswerving  integrity,  has 
amassed  a  handsome  fortune.  During  his  time  his  life  has  been  an  event 
ful  one,  he  having  followed,  with  success,  at  least  a  dozen  avocations. 
Commencing  as  a  raftsman  he  shortly  rose  to  the  captaincy  of  a  Missouri 
river  packet.  Afterwards  a  merchant,  lie  is  now  one  of  the  largest  livery 
men  and  stock  dealers  in  the.  West.  Serving  four  years  in  the  citycotincil  of 
St.  Louis,  he  has  acquired  a  reputation  for  honesty  and'  devotion  to  princi 
ple  which  has  made  him  invincible  as  a  candidate  for  any  office  of  trust  or 
emolument,  despite  the  Radical  majority  he  has  had  to  contend  against  in 
his  ward.  Since  his  advent  at  the  State  capital  he  has  made  hosts  of 
friends,  by  whom  his  judgment  on  all  matters  is  regarded  as  sound  and 
dictated  purely  by  integrity  of  purpose.  His  constituency  have  occasion 
to  feel  proud  of  him,  and  his  record  will  be  an  indorsement  of  their  good 
judgment  in  sending  him  to  the  seat  he  so  worthily  occupies.  Mr.  Bosby 
shell,  like  the  worthy  chairman  of  the  Committee  of  Accounts,  of  which 
he  is  also  a  member,  is  among  the  weighty  men  of  the  House.  He  is  the 
possessor  of  a  robust  physique,  a  full,  good  natured  and  intelligent  coun 
tenance  and  an  ease  of  manner  which  renders  him  at  home  in  any  and  all 
situations.  Though  seldom  indulging  in  long  speeches  he  frequently  puts 
in  a  word  in  the  right  place. 


W.  A.  BRADSHAW. 

The  venerable  member  from  Miller  county,  is  a  native  of  Kentucky 
and  was  born  in  Adair  county,  in  that  State,  June  8th,  1817,  where  he  fol 
lowed  the  life  of  a  farmer  up  to  1859,  when  he  removed  to  Missouri,  set 
tling  in  the  county  whose  interests  have  been  intrusted  to  his  charge  in 
the  present  Assembly.  On  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  taking  a  decided 
stand  in  favor  of  the  unity  of  the  States,  he  raised  a  company  of  militia 
with  whom  he  repaired  to  the  State  Capital,  where  he  remained  until  his 
command  was  disbanded.  Returning  home  he  was  elected  a  judge  of  the 
county  court,  a  position  he  continued  to  hold  until  1870,  wrhen  elected  to 
represent  his  county  in  the  House.  Though  rarely  on  the  floor,  he  is  sel 
dom  out  of  his  seat,  and  is  invariably  attentive  and  assiduous  in  the  dis- 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL    ASSEMBLY. 

charge  of  the  duties  .imposed  on  him.  Like  Mr.  Bosbyshell,  lie  is 
the  weighty  members  of  the  body,  Politically,  lie  is  a  Republican.  On 
tlie  orgaui/ation,  he  was  assigned  to  the  Committee  on  Enrolled  Bills,  of 
which  he  has  proven  a  capable  member. 


J.  J.  C.  BREAZEALE 


Who  represents  the  county  of  Christian,  is  a  Tennesseean,  in  which 
State  IK;  was  born  December  4i.li,  1S;5;5.  On  attaining'  his  majority  he  im 
migrated  to  Missouri,  locating  first  in  Xewton  and  afterwards  in  Christian 
county,  where  lie  has  since  constantly  resided,  and  with  \vlio.-c  interests 
he  has  made  himself  fully  acquainted.  It  has  been  his  good  fortune  in 
his  nc\v  home  to  have;  had  various  positions  of  honor  and  emolument  as 
signed  him — having  held  nearly  every  oilice  in  the  gift  of  his  coii-lilucncy 
from  that  of  constable  up  to  Representative,  lie  was  sheritt'  of  his 
adopted  county  for  two  terms  from  ISCO  to  1S70,  finally  refusing  renomi- 
nation  to  accept  his  present  ])osition  in  the  House.  His  cour-e  at  the 
Capiial  lias  been  marked  by  strict  attention  to  and  a  faithful  di-eharge  of 
the  duties  imposed  upon  him.  Politically  Mr.  Brea/eale  is  a  Republican, 
and  by  calling  a  fanner,  lie  i<  a  member  of  the  Committe-.1  on  Immigra 
tion. 


LUMAN  A.  BIJOUX. 

Tlte  authorship  of  the  important  l)ill  for  the  equalization  of  the  assess 
ment  and  collection  of  the  tax  on  railroads,  would  in  itself,  perhaps, 
stamp  the  member  from  Howard  county  as  one  of  the  most  practical, 
clear-headed  and  eminently  serviceable  members  of  the  House.  Seldom 
out  of  his  seat  during  session  hours,  and  seldom,  if  ever,  absent  from 
committee  -meetings,  where  his  presence  is  desired,  and  his  experience  and 
judgment  are  often  called  into  requisition.  I  know  of  no  member  more 
strictly  faithful  to  the  interests  of  his  immediate  constituency  or  the  State 
at  large,  nor  one  more  conscientious  in  the  discharge  of  the  duties  im 
posed  upon  him.  Having  said  this  much,  I  am  gratified  at  being  able  to 
add  that  Mr.  Brown  is  a  Democrat  without  a  thought  or  shadow  of  turn 
ing.  A  native  of  Connecticut,  from  which  State  he  emigrated  to  Missouri 
in  'IS,",  he  is  an  exemplification  of  the  staunch  Democracy  of  the  wooden 


26  PEN-PICTURES    OF   THE 

nutmeg  State.  On  removing  to  the  West  Mr.  Brown  located  in  Howard 
count}',  where  he  has  since  resided,  universally  respected  and  esteemed 
for  his  estimable  qualities  of  heart  as  well  as  head,  and  by  whose  people 
he  has  been  twice  chosen  to  represent  them  at  the  State  Capital.  Though 
the  present  House  may  be  regarded  as  one  of  young  men,  it  is  hardly  ne 
cessary  to  remark  to  those  who  know  him  that  the  member  from  Howard, 
though  approaching  sixty,  is  in  no  respect  an  old  fogy  or  lacking  the 
spirit  and  vigor  of  the  youngest  of  his  co-laborers.  AVith  these  qualities 
he  combines  an  experience  and  maturity  of  judgment  which  causes  him 
to  be  frequently  consulted,  and  at  all  times  respected  by  his  younger  asso 
ciates.  In  personal  appearance  Mr.  Brown  is  rather  under  the  average 
higlit,  with  an  expressive,  and  at  all  times  pleasant  countenance,  a  fine 
forehead,  quick  eye  and  sprightly,  nervous  manner.  Though  often  upon 
the  floor,  and  especially  when  matters  in  which  he  is  particularly  inter 
ested  are  under  consideration,  he  is  never  tiresome,  but  at  all  times  listened 
to  with  respect  and  attention,  and  seldom  fails  to  carry  his  points.  This, 
however,  it  should  be  added,  is  owing  rather  to  the  subject  matter  than 
the  manner  of  what  he  has  to  say,  as  he  makes  no  strain  at  oratory,  and 
seldom  betrays  either  feeling  or  passion  in  his  delivery.  Mr.  Brown  is  an 
active,  I  might  say,  invaluable  member  of  the  Committees  on  Ways  and 
Means,  Internal  Improvements,  Agriculture,  Penitentiary,  Blind  Asylum, 
County  Boundaries  and  the  special  committee  to  investigate  the  affairs  ot 
the  Normal  Schools  in  the  First  and  Second  districts. 


MILTON  C.  BEOWN. 

Few  counties  are  better  represented  in  the  House  than  the  populous 
and  thoroughly  Democratic  county  of  Monroe,  in  the  person  of  its  young, 
energetic  and  wide-awake  member,  Mr.  Milton  C.  Brown.  A  native  of 
Mississippi,  and  a  descendant  of  one  of  the  oldest  and  best  families  of  that 
State,  he  possesses  all  the  fire  and  impetuosity  of  the  Southern  tempera 
ment,  united  with  a  good  judgment  and  sagacity  that  seldom,  if  ever,  per 
mit  him  to  blunder.  Emigrating  at  an  early  period  from  his  native  State, 
Mr.  Brown  located  in  Illinois,  from  which  State  he  entered  the  Federal 
army  as  a  private,  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  and  remained  in  the 
service  until  the  war  was  perverted  from  a  struggle  for  the  unity  of  the 
States  into  a  crusade  against  the  liberties  and  property  of  the  South,  when 
he  sought  and  obtained  an  honorable  discharge.  Returning  to  civil  life, 
he  devoted  his  attention  to  the  study  of  the  law,  and  in  the  meantime  re 
moved  to  this  State,  locating  in  Monroe  county.  Here  he  completed  his 
studies,  and  was  licensed  to  practice  by  Chief  Justice  Wagner.  In  con 
nection  with  the  practice  of  his  profession,  he  also  turned  his  attention  to 
journalism,  and  in  18G8  established  the  Monroe  City  Appeal,  a  live,  pro 
gressive  and'red  hot"  Democratic  journal,  which  he  conducted  with 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL    ASSEMBLY.  27 

signal  ability  and  success.  Representing,  as  he  does,  one  of  the  first  agri 
cultural  and  stock  growing  counties  of  the  State,  it  has  been  his  province 
during  the  session  to  devote  a  large  share  of  his  attention  to  these  interests, 
as  affected  by  legislation.  Mr.  Brown  is  also  the  author  of  the  admirable 
bill  introduced  early  in  the  session  regulating  passenger  tariffs  on  rail 
roads,  and  a  similar  measure  regulating  the  shipment  of  stock.  Generally 
punctual  in  attendance,  and  seldom  absent  from  his  seat  during  session 
hours,  his  name  will  be  found  recorded  among  the  ayes  and  noes  on  every 
important  measure  that  has  yet  been  brought  to  the  attention  of  the 
PIousc.  He  is  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Local  Bills,  and  an  active 
member  of  the  Committees  on  Internal  Improvements. 


11.  BUClvHAM, 

Representing  the  northwestern  county  of  Atehison,  is  one  of  the 
older  members  of  the  House,  having  been  born  in  Sunnier  county.  Ten 
nessee,  June  2oth,  1S11.  During' his  infancy  his  iiunily  removed  to  Ken 
tucky,  where  his  youth  and  early  manhood  were  spent,  and  where  he  grad 
uated  in  medicine,  a  profession  lie  has  since  continued  to  follow.  Immi 
grating  to  Missouri  in  18IHI,  he  located  first  in  Boone  and  subsequently  in 
Atehison  county,  where  he  has  since  constantly  resided,  lie  was  elected 
a  member  of  the  Twenty-third  Assembly  and  returned  by  his  constitu 
ency  to  the  present  House,  in  which  he  has  proven  a  faithful  and  efii'-i<-n! 
guardian  of  the  interests  of  his  county  and  the  State  at  large.  Though 
lie  has  seldom  occupied  the  lloor.  he  is  not  without  his  opinions  on  sub 
jects  of  legislation,  which,  when  expressed,  invariably  command  the  atten 
tion  and  respect  of  his  associates.  He  has  been  a  serviceable  member  of 
the  important  Committee  on  \Vays  and  Means.  Politically  he  is  a  Repub- 
lican. 


LTJZEUXE  L.  BTJLKLEY. 

The  capable  and  conscientious  Representative  from  Malls  is  a  native 
of  Indiana,  in  which  State  he  was  born  May  25th,  1837,  and  where  he  re 
mained  until  six  years  of  age,  when  his  family  removed  to  Missouri,  set 
tling  in  the  county  of  Rails,  where  they  have  ever  since  resided.  After 
receiving  a  good  common  school  education  he  commenced  farming,  an 


28  PEN-PICTURES   OF    THE 

occupation  his  father  had  followed  before  him,  and  to  which  he  continued 
to  devote  his  attention  until  the  late  war  broke  out,  when  at  the  first  call 
he  entered  the  service  and  served  with  the  rank  of  Captain  first  in  the 
2d  and  afterwards  in  the  llth  Missouii  regiment.  On  the  restoration  of 
peace,  turning1  his  spear  into  a  pruning-hook  and  his  sword  into  a  plow 
share,  he  returned  home  and  again  engaged  in  farming,  which  peaceful 
avocation  he  continued  to  follow  up  to  the  fall  of  18G6,  when  he  was 
elected  to  a  seat  in  the  Twenty-fourth  Assembly.  The  experience  he 
gained  in  this  body  he  has  turned  to  excellent  account  in  the  present 
House,  and  has  enabled  him  to  prove  a  most  valuable  member.  Politi 
cally  Mr.  Bulkley  is  a  Liberal  Republican.  He  has  served  efficiently  as  a 
member  of  the  Committee  on  Banks  and  Corporations  and  the  special 
committee  on  Fees  and  Salaries. 


K.  F.  BULLER. 

The  flourishing  county  of  Cedar,  which  has  given  the  State  its  Lieu 
tenant  Governor,  has  done  itself  equal  credit  in  sending  to  the  other  cham 
ber  of  the  Capital  the  present  occupant  of  desk  No.  53.  Mr.  Buller,  though 
among  the  younger  members  of  the  House,  had  already  acquired  a  reputa 
tion  in  his  profession  at  home,  which,  preceding  him  to  Jefferson  City, 
secured  for  him  early  in  the  session  a  position  on  the  Committee  on  the 
Judiciary,  a  position  which  he  has  since  abundantly  proven  his  fitness  to 
hold,  and  one  in  which  he  has  done  most  excellent  service.  No  member 
of  the  committee,  I  venture  to  say,  aside  from  Mr.  Thomas,  its  most  effi 
cient  chairman,  has  taken  a  more  active  part  in  its  deliberations,  or  exer 
cised  a  more  positive  influence  upon  its  decisions.  A  shrewd  and  well 
read  lawyer,  fully  acquainted  with  the  present  statutes,  and  knowing  their 
defects,  he  has  assiduously  applied  himself,  with  his  associates  on  the  com 
mittee,  to  the  work  of  amendment  and  modification  demanded  of  the  pres 
ent  Assembly.  Having  positive  views  upon  most  subjects,  he  has  seldom 
failed  to  express  them  on  the  floor  of  the  House  with  independence  and 
can-dor,  and  never,  I  am  confident,  failed  to  vote  as  his  conscientious  con 
victions  have  dictated.  Nor  has  his  disposition  in  this  regard  in  any  in 
stance  been  restrained  by  party  considerations.  Whenever  he  has  had 
occasion  to  differ  in  opinion  from  the  majority  of  his  Democratic  associ 
ates,  he  has  invariably,  and  without  hesitation,  done  so.  Though  lacking 
in  some  respects  the  ease  and  grace  of  the  orator,  his  remarks  upon  all 
subject  are  thoughtful,  logical,  and  put  with  a  terseness  and  vigor  of  ex 
pression  which  renders  them  generally  effective.  He  is  a  frequent  partici 
pant  in  the  debates  of  the  House,  though  never  tiresome  or  needlessly 
wordy.  Mr.  Buller  is  in  his  thirty-first  year,  and  a  native  of  Canada  West. 
Since  his  fourteenth  year  he  has  been  a  resident  of  the  United  States,  hav- 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  29 

ing  at  (More nt  periods  resided  in  Xew  York,  Iowa  and  Missouri.  In  stat 
ure  lie  is  slightlv  above  the  medium  hight,  of  line  figure  and  possessing 
an  intelligent  and  pleasant  countenance.  All  in  all,  fe\v  counties  are  bet 
ter  represented  in  the  present  House  than  the  county  of  Cedar.  - 


s.  w.  BUXCII. 

The  Democratic  Representative  of  Taney  first  saw  the  light  January 
19th,  is:fl,  in  Simpson  county.  Kentucky,  whore  he  resided  up  to  18-10,  in 
the  spring  of  which  year  his  family  removed  to  Missouri.  Since  leaving 
his  native  State  he  has  resided  at  diiVerent  times  in  Jowa.  and  Northern 
Missouri,  finally  bringing  up  in  Taney  county,  where  lie  was  elected  to 
and  held  the  office  of  assessor  for  the  years  1855-6-7-8  and  1>5D.  OH  leav 
ing  this  ollice  he  engaged  in  the  occupation  of  farming,  taking  no  part  in 
politic^  up  to  the  fall  of  1870,  when  he  was  elected  to  the  seat  ^hi.-h  he  at 
present  holds  in  the  House.  His  record  since  at  the  Capital  has  been  that 
of  a  quiet  worker,  seldom  out  of  his  scat  and  always  casting  his  vote  in 
accordance  with  his  conscientious  convictions  of  duty.  Xo  county  has 
had  a  more  faithful  guardian  of  its  interests.  Jle  was  phi'-cd  by  the 
Speaker  on  the  Committee  on  County  Boundaries  and  Engrossed  Bills,  on 
both  of  which  he  has  done  excellent  service. 


JOSEPH  II.  BURROWS. 

Who  represents  the  county  of  Mercer  was  born  near  the  city  of  Man 
chester,  England.  May  15th.  1SIO.  and  is  the  only  gentleman  of  British 
birth  sitting  in  the  House.  When  he  was  only  two  years  old  his  parents 
(.•migrated  to  the  United  States,  landing  at  Xew  Orleans,  whore  his  mother 
died  the  following  year.  After  this  bereavement  his  father  removed  lirst 
to  Quhicy,  Illinois,  and  thence  to  Iveokuk.  Iowa,  where  he  also  died  of 
cholera  in  1840.  The  present  Representative  alter  his  father's  death,  was 
left  in  charge  of  his  uncle,  at  whose  hands  he  received  the  advantage  of  a 
common  school  education,  and  on  leaving  school  he  adopted  a  mercantile 
life,  which  he  has  since  continued  to  follow.  Removing  to  ?>lissouri  in 
1861,  he  located  lirst  in  Putnam,  then  in  Harrison  and  finally  in  Mercer 
county.  Even  before  leaving  Iowa  he  entered  the  political  arena  and 
espoused  the  cause  of  the  Little  Giant  in  the  memorable  contest  of  I860 


30  PEN-PICTURES    OF   THE 

Since  in  Missouri  lie  has  been  a  consistent  member  of  the  Republican 
party,  at  whose  hands  he  holds  his  present  seat.  Mr.  Burrows  is  likewise 
a  minister  of  the  Baptist  denomination,  and  in  18G7  united  with  his  other 
labors  also  that  of  editing  the  Mercer  County  Advance,  his  county  news 
paper,  which  he  continued  to  conduct  through  the  canvass  of  that  year. 
As  a  legislator  he  has  applied  himself  assiduously  to  the  discharge  of  the 
duties  devolving  on  him  both  during  session  hours  and  as  a  member  of  the 
Committee  on  Claims. 


J.  G.  BUKTON. 

The  worthy  member  from  Randolph  claims  the  distinction  of  being 
the  fattest  member  of  the  House.  He  is  a  native  of  Virginia,  having  been 
born  in  Orange  county  in  that  State  in  the  year  1812,  which  renders  him 
also  one  of  the  oldest  members  of  the  body.  While  he  was  only  an  infant 
his  parents  removed  to  Kentucky,  and  after  a  sojourn  of  several.years  in 
that  State,  again  removed  to  Missouri,  settling  in  Randolph  county  in 
1840.  Here  the  present  Representative  has  since  constantly  resided,  se 
curing  the  esteem  of  all  who  know  him,  and  receiving  at  their  hands 
repeated  preferment  to  positions  of  honor  and  trust.  He  was  chosen  to 
represent  his  county  in  the  Twenty-fifth  Assembly,  and  re-elected  to  the 
present  body  in  the  fall  of  1870.  Though  seldom  consuming  the  time  of 
the  House  in  speech-making,  he  is  nevertheless  a  hard-working  and  influ 
ential  member,  and  a  gentleman  of  clear  comprehension  and  the  most  un 
impeachable  honesty.  Politically,  he  is  a  Democrat  of  the  strictest  school, 
and  by  occupation  a  farmer.  He  has  served  during  his  present  term  as  a 
member  of  the  Committee  on  Engrossed  Bills. 


F.  C.  BUTLER, 

Who,  like  the  gentleman  from  Randolph,  is  one  of  the  older  mem 
bers  of  the  House,  was  born  in  what  is  now  the  county  of  New  Madrid, 
March  10th,  1805,  where,  wTith  the  exception  of  short  intervals,  he  has 
ever  since  resided.  He  has  at  different  times  followed  various  avocations 
and  been  honored  with  frequent  elevation  to  office  by  his  constituency,  his 
political  career  commencing  in  fact  at  a  date  anterior  to  the  birth  of  many 
of  his  younger  associates  in  the  present  Assembly.  His  first  office  was 


CYRUS  H.    FROST 

SPEAKER    PRO    TEM 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  81 

that  of  constable,  to  which  he  was  elected  in  1832.  Having:  filled  this 
position  for  two  years,  he  was  elected  sheriff,  and  served  in  this  capacity 
for  two  terms.  In  1842  he  was  again  elected  sheriff;  in  1844,  chosen  to 
represent  his  county  in  the  Legislature,  and  in  1850  elected  judge  of  the 
county  court,  which  latter  position  lie  continued  to  hold  until  ousted  by  the 
memorable  ordinance  of  1805.  His  election  to  the  present  House  will 
probably  be  the  last  of  many  official  trusts  imposed  upon  him  by  his  con 
stituency,  his  already  extreme  age  and  feelle  health  having  prevented 
him  from  taking  as  active  a  part  in  the  legislation  of  the  session  as  his  incli 
nation  and  regard  for  the  interests  of  his  county  and  the  State  would  have 
induced  him  to  have  done.  Though  politically  an  uncompromising  Dem 
ocrat,  he  is  equally  popular  with  the  members  of  all  parties,  and  has  won 
the  esteem  of  every  one  with  whom  lie  has  been  associated  at  the  Capital. 


C.  F.  CillLTOX, 

Representing  the  county  of  Shannon,  was  born  in  Monroe  county, 
Tennessee,  in  18;)(>.  When  live  years  of  age  his  father  removed  with  his 
family  to  Missouri,  locating  in  Shannon  county,  where  the  present  Repre 
sentative  was  raised  and  has  ever  since  resided,  devoting  himself  to  agri 
culture  and  stock-raising.  In  his  nineteenth  year  he  became  deputy 
county  and  circuit  clerk,  and  in  185S  was  appointed  deputy  sheriff,  serving 
as  such  until  1SGO,  when  lie  was  elected  sheriff  of  his  county.  In  ]S(J(>  he 
was  appointed  and  in  18G8  again  elected  to  the  same  responsible  oflice,  and 
as  a  still  higher  mark  of  the  good-will  and  esteem  of  his  fellow  citi/ens 
he  was  in  1870  chosen  to  represent  them  in  the  Legislature.  In  politics  he 
is  a  sound  Democrat,  and  as  a  man  and  a  legislator  lie  has  won  the  confi 
dence  and  respect  of  his  associates.  Quiet  and  unostentatious  in  his 
deportment,  and  making  no  pretentious  to  oratory,  he  yet  is  a  working 
member,  a  close  observer  and  always  votes  with  judgment.  He  i.s  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Committee  on  Library  and  the  special  committee  to  revise  the 
Revenue  law. 


1ST.  C.  CLAIBORNE. 

Col.  Claiborne.  representing  the  Sixth  district  of  St.  Louis,  was  born 
in  Franklin  county,  of  the  Old  Dominion,  February  15th.  1822.  His  an 
cestry  settled  in  the  colony  of  Virginia  in  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth 


32  PEN-PICTURES   OF   THE 

century.  His  father,  Hon.  N.  II.  Claiborne,  was  for  a  long  term  of  years 
in  Congress,  and  his  uncle,  Hon.  Win.  C.  C.  Claiborne,  the  first  governor 
of  Louisiana.  After  receiving  a  liberal  education,  Col.  Claiborne  chose 
the  profession  of  the  law,  which  he  has  continued  to  follow  through  life. 
His  first  preferment  to  office  was  in  1847,  when  he  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  Virginia  House  of  Delegates,  in  which  he  served  up  to  1851,  when 
he  was  chosen  a  delegate  to  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  his  native 
State  which  met  in  that  year.  In  1857  he  removed  to  Missouri,  locating 
in  Kansas  City,  where  he  soon  acquired  a  reputation  and  large  practice  at 
the  bar.  He  \vas  chosen  by  his  party  in  his  new  home  a  delegate  to  the 
National  Democratic  Convention  of  I860,  in  which  he  stood  by  the  Little 
Giant  to  the  last.  In  the  fall  of  the  same  year  he  was  also  elected  a  mem 
ber  of  the  House  of  Eepresentatives  from  Jackson  county,  a  position  which 
in  the  following  year  he  resigned  to  remove  to  St.  Louis  and  engage  in  the 
practice  of  his  profession  in  that  city.  He  was  Secretary  of  the  Senate 
during  the  called  session  of  1861,  and  lias  since  been  twice  elected  to  the 
House  from  St.  Louis.  Such  is  a  brief  sketch  of  his  distinguished  career. 
Of  his  eccentric  genius,  brilliant  accomplishments  and  rich,  genial,  hearty 
humor  it  is  difficult  to  speak  with  justice.  "Nat  Claiborne,"  as  his  thou 
sand  friends  insist  on  calling  him,  not  only  wins  all  hearts,  but  he  carries 
them  by  storm.  His  humor,  his  flashing,  pointed,  but  never  envenomed 
wit,  his  boundless  generosity,  his  uniform  kindness  of  heart  render  him 
alwajTs  and  everywhere  a  delightful  companion.  Though  a  zealous  and 
uncompromising  Democrat,  he  is  personally  the  friend  and  favorite  of  all 
parties.  As  a  parliamentary  orator  it  is  safe  to  say  that  he  has  not  an 
equal  in  the  House. 


II.  A.  CLAKK. 

The  capable  member  from  Dacle  county  was  born  in  Gettysburg, 
Pennsylvania,  in  1822.  where  he  remained  until  fourteen  years  of  age,  at 
which  time  his  father  immigrated  with  his  family  to  the  West,  locating  in 
what  is  now  Benton  county,  in  this  State,  when  that  locality  was  compar 
atively  a  wilderness.  Here  the  present  Representative  remained,  working 
on  his  father's  farm  up  to  1849,  when  being  seized  with  the  gold  fever, 
which  at  that  date  swept  over  the  country,  he  set  out  for  California  with 
the  first  immigration  to  that  State.  After  an  eventful  sojourn  of  two  years 
on  the  Pacific  slope,  he  returned  to  Missouri,  and  in  1851  located  at  Mel 
ville,  in  Dade  county,  where  he  has  since  continued  to  reside.  During  the 
administration  of  Mr.  Lincoln  he  was  appointed  postmaster  of  that  tillage, 
an  office  he  has  ever  since  filled.  His  present  seat  in  the  House  is  the  first 
and  only  position  he  has  held  by  the  suffrages  of  his  fellow  citizens,  but 
though  a 'novice  in  legislation  on  his  arrival  at  the  Capital,  he  has  fully 
acquainted  himself  with  the  responsible  duties  devolving  on  him,  and  has 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  33 

proven  an  efficient  and  faithful  Representative  of  the  interests  of  his 
county.  Politically  Mr.  Clark  is  a-  Republican,  and  his  present  avocation 
is  that  of  a  merchant.  He  is  a  valuable  member  of  the  Committee  on 
Mines  and  Mining. 


GEO.  B.  CLAKK, 

Representative  from  Washington  county,  is  especially  known  in  the 
House  as  the  lirst  among  the  soldiers  of  the  "lost  cause"  to  occupy  a  seat 
in  either  branch  of  the  General  Assembly.  Major  Clark  was  born  May 
8th,  1833,  in  llallowell,  Maine.  Having  enjoyed  peculiarly  favorable  edu 
cational  advantages  during  his  boyhood,  he  had.  at  the  age  of  twelve,  com 
pleted  his  preparatory  studies  for  a  collegiate  course,  when  all  his  plans 
were  changed  by  the  death  of  his  father,  and  he  found  at  once  devolved 
upon  him,  in  a  great  measure,  the  care  and  support  of  his  mother,  and 
four  children  younger  than  himself.  Entering  with  alacrity  upon  the 
struggle  with  destiny  thus  opened  before  him,  he  employed  himself  suc 
cessfully,  during  the  two  following  years,  in  occupations  not  especially 
adapted  to  the  advancement  of  his  tastes  and  ambitions.  By  this  time  he 
had  so  far  mastered  stern  necessity  as  to  enable  him  to  seek  such  more- 
congenial  occupation  as  might  be  open  to  him,  and  he  entered  the  law 
and  school  book  printing  establishment  of  Masters,  Smith  A;  Co.,  in  his 
native  city,  as  an  apprentice.  Having  spent  four  years  in  that  ofiic.e  in  the 
acquirement  of  u  the  art  preservative,"  lie  at  one*  removed  to  the  South, 
locating  in  Georgia.  There,  for  several  years,  he  was  more  or  less  promi 
nently  connected  with  the  daily  press  of  Savannah  and  Augusta  in  various 
capacities,  and  subsequently  with  the  Atlanta  nc.p'ihilcan.  In  1857  he  set 
out  upon  a  tour  of  several  of  the  Atlantic  seaboard  and  Northern  cities, 
employing  himself  in  the  meantime  at  his  trade.  In  1858  he  reached  the 
West — the  aim  of  his  trip — and  settled  in  Missouri.  In  St.  Lous  he  at  once 
found  profitable  employment  at  the  printing  business,  and  pursued  it  until 
able  to  complete  a  course  of  law  study  previously  undertaken.  At  the  end 
of  a  year's  study,  he  was  licensed  as  an  attorney  before  the  St.  Louis  cir 
cuit  court,  and  within  a  month  thereafter  removed  to  Potosi,  the  county 
seat  of  Washington  county,  where  he  has  since  resided.  In  June,  1SG1,  he 
espoused  the  cause  of  the  South,  and  served  in  the  Confederate  army  until 
the  surrender  of  the  last  forces  in  the  field,  in  June,  180">.  After  this  event- 
he  spent  a  short  time  in  Louisiana  and  Texas,  thence  going  to  Mexico. 
During  the  reign  of  the  unfortunate  Emperor  Maximilian,  he  divided  his 
time  between  agricultural  enterprises  and  the  establishment  and  conduct  of 
a  semi-weekly  newspaper,  printed  in  both  the  English  and  Spanish  lan 
guages,  at  Orizaba,  Mexico,  entitled  ''The  Railway  Era.-'  In  the  fall  of  1800 
he  returned  to  Missouri,  and  was  connected  with  "The  Hesperian,"  a  literary 
production  of  St,  Louis,  during  its  brief  existence.  In  April,  1SG7,  he  re- 
3* 


34  PEN-PICTURES  OF  THE 

Burned  his  residence  at  Potosi,  and  established  the  "Washington  County 
Journal,"  [which  now  holds  rank  as  a  leading  Democratic  newspaper  in 
Southeast  Missouri,  and  with  which  he  still  retains  his  connection.  Re- 
enfranchised  only  upon  the  submission  of  that  question  to  the  popular  vote 
in  1870,  he  refrained  from  taking  any  part  in  political  affairs  until  that  date. 
In  the  spring  of  1871  the  seat  of  Representative  from  Washington  county 
in  the  General  Assembly  becoming  vacant  by  the  death  of  Hon.  J.  P.  B. 
Gratiot,  he  received  the  Democratic  nomination  of  his  county  to  the  posi 
tion,  and  at  a  special  election  held  in  August  last,  was  elected  by  a  highly 
complimentary  majority,  In  the  adjourned  session  of  the  Assembly,  he 
has  been  an  active  member  of  the  important  standing  Committees  on  In 
ternal  Improvements  and  Federal  Relations,  as  also  upon  the  special  com 
mittees  appointed  to  investigate  the  claims  of  the  81st  and  82d  regiments 
E.  M.  M.,  and  the  joint  committee  for  the  purpose  of  reporting  a  uniform 
system  of  common  pleas  and  probate  courts.  As  a  speaker,  Maj.  Clark  is 
fluent,  logical  and  impressive,  and  never  fails  to  secure  and  retain  the  at 
tention  of  the  House  when  on  the  floor.  Personally,  he  is  scarcely  less 
popular  among  those  who  differ  most  widely  with  him  than  among  those 
of  his  own  political  faith. 


AV.  F.  CLOUD. 

One  of  the  shrewdest,  clearest-headed  and  most  influential  members  on 
the  Republican  side  of  the  chamber  is  the  gentleman  upon  whom  it  has 
devolved  to  represent  the  county  of  Jasper  in  the  present  Assembly.  Col. 
Cloud  was  born  in  Champaign  county,  Ohio,  March  23d,  1825,  his  parents 
having  removed  to  that  State  from  Virginia  and  Maryland.  His  education 
was  only  such  as  was  afforded  him  in  the  common  schools  of  his  native  State, 
and  this  had  scarcely  been  completed  when  he  enlisted  and  served  through 
the  Mexican  war  as  an  Ohio  volunteer.  On  quitting  the  service,  he  returned 
home  and  shortly  afterwards  removed  to  Kansas,  where  he  resided  up  to 
the  outbreak  of  the  late  struggle  between  the  States,  when  on  the  21st  of 
April,  1861,  he  offered  the  first  company  for  service  to  the  Governor  of 
that  State.  His  services  being  accepted  he  was,  on  the  organization  of  the 
2d  Kansas,  elected  and  commissioned  a  Major  in  that  regiment.  After  the 
battle  of  Wilson's  Creek,  he  was  promoted  to  a  colonelcy,  with  which  rank 
he  served  gallantly  to  the  close  of  the  war,  always  in  command  either  of 
a  regiment,  a  brigade,  or  a  district.  On  the  restoration  of  peace,  he  re 
turned  to  his  home  in  Kansas  where  he  remained  up  to  1867,  when  he  re 
moved  to  Missouri  locating  in  Jasper  county,  where  he  has  since  been  en 
gaged  in  the  real  estate  business  in  connection  with  the  practice  of  law. 
Though  holding  firmly  to  the  tenets  of  the  Republican  party,  he  is  tole 
rant  of  the  views  of  his  opponents,  and  among  those  who  believe  that  the 
exigencies  of  the  late  war  and  the  results  that  have  followed,  have  devel 
oped  in  those  who  espoused  the  cause  of  the  South  a  degree  of  patriotism 


TWENTY-SIXTH   GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  35 

and  devotion  to  principle  that  entitle  them  to  all  the  immunities  of  citi 
zenship,  and  that  general  amnesty  at  this  time  would  prove  advantageous 
to  the  country.  Col.  Cloud  is  a  member  of  the  Committees  on  Deaf  and 
Dumb  and  Lunatic  Asylums,  on  which  he  has  done  valuable  service,  to 
gether  with  his  labors  during'  session  hours. 


J.  P.  COLCOED. 

The  Representative  from  the  Seventh  district  of  St.  Louis,  who,  with 
Nat  Claiborne  and  the  member  from  Mississippi  county,  furnishes  the 
pyrotechnics  of  the  House,  is  a  native  of  Suckerdom,  having  been  born 
in  Bond  county,  in  that  State,  in  1S43.  Graduating  with  honors  at  the 
reputable  institution  at  Greenville,  in  his  native  county,  in  18G1.  he  entered 
the  Federal  army  during  the  following  year,  and  served  creditably  up  to 
the  spring  of  1.SU3,  when  he  was  severely  wounded  while  leading  his  com 
mand  to  the  attack  on  Vicksburg.  Retiring  to  civil  life  he  located  in  St. 
Louis  in  18G4,  where  shortly  afterwards  he  commenced  the  practice  of 
law.  About  the  same  time  he  was  also  associated  with  Judge  Fogg,  late 
of  the  Supreme  bench,  as  Secretary  of  the  commission  to  revise  the  General 
Statutes  of  the  State.  In  18GG  he  was  appointed  prosecuting  attorney  of  St. 
Louis  county,  and  at  the  fall  election  in  that  year  was  elected  by  the  peo 
ple  to  the  same  office  for  the  term  of  four  years.  In  the  triangular  con 
test  in  the  fall  of  1870  he  was  elected  to  the  seat  he  now  occupies  in  the 
House  over  his  Democratic  and  McClurg  opponents.  Politically,  Mr.  Col- 
cord  is  a  Republican  of  the  most  liberal  school,  seldom,  if  ever,  hesitating 
to  take  issue  with  his  party  associates  when  his  convictions  lead  him  to 
differ  with  them.  He  took  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  memorable  bolting' 
convention,  and  stumped  St.  Louis  and  other  counties  for  the  Liberal 
ticket.  Besides  his  professional  and  official  duties,  Mr.  Colcord  has  been 
an  almost  constant  contributor  to  the  press,  and  will  be  remembered  as 
the  author  of  the  "Sketches  of  the  St.  Louis  bar,"  published  in  one  of  the 
city  dailies.  In  his  intercourse  with  his  associates,  Mr.  Colcord  is  univer 
sally  courteous  and  popular.  As  a  speaker,  he  is  ready,  fluent  and  inex 
haustible.  He  is  frequently  on  the  floor,  and  generally  speaks  with  point 
and  effectiveness.  He  is  of  slender  build,  nervous  and  active  in  all  his 
movements,  and  glories  like  a  woman  in  a  long  luxuriant  growth  of  hair, 
which  is  brushed  Byronically  back  of  his  ears,  lie  is  a  serviceable  mem 
ber  of  the  Committee  on  Criminal  Jurisprudence,  and  has  also  served  on 
various  special  committees. 


36  PEN-PICTURES    OF   THE 

F.  N.  COLEMAN, 

Who  represents  the  county  of  Carter,  is  a  native  of  Tennessee,  having 
been  born  in  Polk  county,  in  that  State,  December  5th,  1834.  Removing 
to  Missouri  in  1851  he  located,  and  has  since  constantly  resided  in  the 
county  which  he  represents  in  the  present  Assembly.  Though  an  unpre 
tentious  farmer  and  never  having  sought  political  preferment,  he  has  twice 
been  honored  with  office  at  the  hands  of  his  constituency,  first  in  being 
elected  public  administrator  of  his  county  and  subsequently  in  being 
chosen  a  member  of  the  lower  branch  of  the  Legislature.  Politically,  he 
is  an  uncompromising  Democrat.  His  course  since  his  advent  at  the  Cap 
ital  has  been  marked  by  close  attention  to  the  business  of  the  House  and  a 
faithful  discharge  of  the  duties  immediately  devolving  upon  him.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Committee  on  Claims. 


S.  C.  COLLIER, 

Representing  the  rich  mineral  county  of  Madison,  is  the  "rough 
diamond"  of  the  House.  Unpretentious,  reserved,  absolutely  silent  in 
fact  for  weeks  at  a  time,  he  is  perhaps  the  last  gentleman  in  the  hall  who 
would  be  picked  out  for  an  orator,  much  less  the  orator,  if  I  may  make  a 
single  exception,  of  the  body.  His  extreme  modesty  and  taciturnity 
render  him  one  of  those  whom  you  are  slow  to  become  acquainted  with. 
You  get  at  the  rich  kernel  only  through  a  thick  shell,  but  how  rich  it  is 
you  can  only  know  when  you  have  penetrated  the  shell.  You  find  him 
genial,  warm-hearted,  earnest  and  true.  With  a  large  fund  of  information 
he  combines  a  clear  and  logical  discrimination  and  a  compact  and  felicitous 
diction.  His  eloquence  is  of  the  purest  quality.  Its  groundwork  is  a  terse 
and  luminous  statement  of  facts  on  which  is  built  a  solid  superstructure 
of  logic.  There  runs  through  his  discourse  a  rich  vein  of  poetic  imagery 
and  sentiment  which  charms  and  magnetizes  the  listener,  while  his  unan 
swerable  arguments  carry  with  them  conviction.  His  speech  during  the 
regular  session  on  the  question  of  calling  a  Constitutional  Convention  will 
sustain  all  that  I  have  said  regarding  his  oratory.  Mr.  Collier  was  born 
in  the  county  which  he  at  present  represents  in  the  House,  October  19th, 
1825,  and  was  educated  at  Cumberland  University,  Lebanon,  Tennessee. 
He  studied  law  in  the  office  of  the  Hon.  Samuel  Caruthers,  and  since  his 
admission  to  the  bar  has  followed  that  profession  as  a  means  of  livelihood. 
He  was  an  active  member  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1861,  to 
which  he  was  elected  by  a  larger  majority  than  that  given  any  other  dele 
gate  to  the  body.  Politically  he  is  a  Democrat  of  the  strictest  school.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  important  Committee  on  Mines  and  Mining  and  the 
Commtttee  on  Justices  of  the  Peace. 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  37 


M.  CROCKETT, 

Representative  from  Andrew,  was  born  in  Seneca  county,  Ohio,  Jan 
uary  llth,  1S25.  In  1857  he  removed  to  Missouri,  settling  in  Andrew 
county,  where  he  has  since  made  his  home  and  with  whose  interest*  he 
has  become  thoroughly  acquainted  and  identified.  On  the  outbreak  of  the 
war  lie  entered  the  Federal  service,  and  continued  therein  until  peace  was 
restored,  serving  first  as  a  private  and  afterwards  as  a  lieutenant.  The 
only  office  he  has  ever  held  prior  to  his  election  as  a  member  of  the  present 
Hou.se,  was  that  of  postmaster  of  his  native  village  under  the  administra 
tion  of  President  Pierce.  Mr.  Crockett  is  by  calling  a  farmer,  and  politi 
cally  a  Republican  of  the  liberal  school.  As  a  legislator  he  is  attentive, 
industrious  and  conscientious,  generally  in  his  seat  and  casting  his  vote 
with  good  judgment.  lie  is  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  Claims,  from 
whose  meetings  he  is  seldom  absent. 


DANIEL  E.  DAVIS. 

The  Southwest  has  sent  no  more  serviceable  a  member  to  the  pre-ent 
Assembly  than  the  shrewd,  good-natured  and  intelligent  Representative 
from  Pulaski  county.  Invariably  punctual  in  attendance,  and  closely  at 
tentive  to  the  business  of  the  House,  it  can  be  said  of  Mr.  Davis  what  can 
be  s:iid  of  few  of  his  associates,  that  he  has  been  present  at  every  meeting 
and  adjournment  of  the  body,  and  lias  as  yet  failed  in  no  instance  to  answer 
to  his  name  at  roll  call.  Always  voting,  he  has  also  voted  with  invariable 
intelligence  and  a  conscientious  regard  for  the  best  interests  of  his  constit 
uency  and  the  people  at  large.  With  a  decided  vein  of  humor  in  his  com 
position,  it  has  frequently  devolved  upon  him  to  arouse  the  House  from  its 
stupors  and  restore  cheerfulness  and  good  nature.  Mr.  Davis  is  a  native  of 
the  county  he  represents,  where  he  was  born  in  1835.  Having  emigrated 
with  his  father  when  quite  young  to  California,  his  early  manhood  was 
spent  upon  the  Pacific  slope.  Returning  to  Pulaski  count}'  in  1SG1,  lie. 
enlisted  and  served  with  credit  for  one  year  in  the  Federal  army  as  a  eap- 
tain  in  the  Forty-eighth  regiment  Missouri  volunteers.  In  civil  life  Mr. 
Davis  has  at  various  times  followed  the  calling  of  farmer,  mechanic  and 
merchant,  in  all  ot  which  he  has  applied  with  success  the  tact  and  energy 
for  which  he  is  distinguished.  In  politics  he  is  a  Democrat  of  the  strictest 
type,  always  acting  in  harmony  with  his  party  associates  in  the  House. 
He  has  proven  an  efficient  member  of  the  Committees  on  Library  and  on 
Benevolent  and  Scientific  Institutions. 


38  PEN-PICTURES    OF   THE 


JOSHUA  DEAN. 

No  member  on  the  Democratic  side  of  the  chamber  has  by  his  con 
scientious  course  at  the  Capital  achieved  a  more  untarnished  reputation  for 
honesty  and  regard  for  the  over-burthened  tax-payer  than  the  worthy 
member  from  DeKalb.  Though  making  no  effort  at  oratory,  he  never 
fails  to  raise  his  voice  against  extravagance  in  any  shape,  and  has  in  every 
instance  proven  a  friend  of  retrenchment  and  reform.  Mr.  Dean  is  a  na 
tive  Missourian,  having  been  born  in  Jackson  county,  in  this  State,  April 
12th,  1832.  He  has  resided  for  a  number  of  years  in  the  county  which  he 
at  present  represents  in  the  popular  branch  of  the  Assembly  with  whose 
interests  he  has  become  thoroughly  identified.  A  quiet  and  unpretentious 
farmer  by  calling,  he  has  never  sought  or  held  any  public  office  prior  to 
the  seat  he  now  holds  in  the  House.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Committee 
on  Roads  and  Highways. 


EPHEAIM  DENT, 


Who  represents  the  county  of  Hickory,  is  also  to  the  manor  born, 
having  first  seen  the  light  in  Franklin  county,  in  this  State,  December  12th, 
1831.  During  his  boyhood  his  family  removed  to  Polk  county,  where  they 
resided  for  five  years,  at  the  expiration  of  which  period  they  removed  to 
St.  Clair  county.  After  a  sojourn  of  nine  years  in  the  latter  locality,  the 
present  Representative  removed  to  the  county  of  Hickory,  where  he  has 
ever  since  resided.  In  1862  he  was  appointed  by  Gov.  Gamble  to  fill  a 
vacancy  on  the  bench  of  the  county  court  of  his  adopted  county,  and  in 
I860  was  elected  to  the  office  of  county  assessor,  which  latter  position  he 
filled  for  two  years.  He  was  elected  in  the  fall  of  1870  as  an  independent 
Republican  to  the  seat  which  he  at  present  holds  in  the  House,  and  which 
he  has  filled  with  ability  and  a  scrupulous  regard  to  the  interests  of  his 
county  and  the  State.  On  the  organization  of  the  body  he  was  assigned 
to  the  Committee  on  Engrossed  Bills. 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY. 

J.  S.  DOAK. 

The  affable,  kind-hearted  and  clear-headed  gentleman  who  represents 
the  county  of  Cra\yford,  is  among  the  older  members  of  the  House,  hav 
ing  been  born  in  Augusta  county,  Virginia,  in  1808.  Removing  to  Missouri 
in  1S30,  he  has  since  that  date  been  a  resident  of  this  State,  and  the  greater 
portion  of  the  time  of  the  county  whose  interests  have  been  placed  in  his 
charge  in  the  present  Assembly.  He  has  followed  by  turns  the  callings  of 
farmer  and  merchant,  and  is  at  present  engaged  in  the  former  pursuit.  As 
a  legislator  he  has  been  attentive,  laborious  and  faithful.  Politically  a 
Democrat,  he  has  proven  true  to  his  party  and  its  principles  in  all  ques 
tions  of  a  political  character,  while  personally  he  has  won  for  himself  the 
respect  and  esteem  of  his  associates  irrespective  of  party.  He  has  served 
on  the  important  Committees  on  Education,  Mines  and  Mining  and  Per 
manent  Seat  of  Government. 


ALBERT  G.  DOD. 

Who  represents  the  counly  of  Knox,  is  a  Kentuekiau,  having  been 
born  in  Danville  in  1841.  His  father  was  for  many  }Tears  professor  of 
mathematics  in  Centre  College,  in  that  State.  The  present  Representative 
received  a  thorough  classical  education,  graduating  with  honors  from  the 
Illinois  College  at  Jacksonville,  and  on  completing  his  studies  entered  the 
Federal  service  in  the  late  war,  in  which  he  served  up  to  the  restoration 
of  peace.  On  leaving  the  service  he  settled  in  Knox  county,  in  this  Staff, 
and  engaged  in  farming  and  stock  raising,  which  pursuits  he  still  contin 
ues  to  follow.  In  the  exciting  political  canvass  of  1870,  he  ran  as  rni  in 
dependent  Republican  for  the  seat  he  at  present  fills,  and  was  elected  by 
a  majority  that  fully  attested  his  personal  popularity  among  his  friends. 
Although  one  of  the  younger  members  of  the  House,  he  has  proven  a 
cool-headed,  as  well  as  an  active  participant  in  its  deliberations,  and  gives 
promise  of  great  future  usefulness  to  his  constituency.  He  has  been  the  au 
thor  of  a  number  of  important  measures  of  a  general  character,  and  has 
served  as  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Revised  and  Unfinished  Business, 
and  as  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  Agriculture,  lie  was  also  selected 
by  the  Speaker  from  among  the  j^oung  men  of  the  House  as  a  member  of 
the  committee  to  receive  the  Grand  Duke  Alexis  on  his  recent  visit  to  the 
Capitol. 


40  PEN-PICTURES  OP  THE 

J.  11.  DOLLE. 

The  member  from  Bellinger  was  born  February  22d,  1822,  and  is  a 
native  of  Germany.  In  1S3G  he  immigrated  to  the  United  States,  and 
about  one  year  thereafter  settled  in  Missouri.  Up  to  1868  he  had  refrained 
entirely  from  taking  any  active  part  in  politics,  preferring  to  give  his  undi 
vided  attention  to  his  private  pursuits — farming  and  milling — but  in  the 
fall  of  that  year  being  solicited  by  his  friends  to  emerge  from  his  retire 
ment,  he  accepted  the  nomination  for  Representative  from  his  county  in 
the  General  Assembly,  and  was  elected  by  a  highly  complimentary  ma 
jority.  The  acceptability  of  his  services  in  this  instance  secured  for  him 
a  renominatioti  and  a  re-election  to  the  present  House,  in  which  his 
course  has  been  one  of  continued  devotion  to  the  interests  of  his  constitu 
ency.  Though  rarely  on  the  floor,  he  is  equally  as  rarely  out  of  his  seat,  and 
seldom,  if  ever,  errs  in  his  judgment  or  his  vote.  Though  a  Republican, 
he  never  permits  politics  to  interfere  with  his  duties  as  a  legislator.  He 
has  rendered  good  service  as  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  Justices  of 
the  Peace. 


P.  E.  DOLMAN. 

The  gentleman  on  whom  it  has  devolved  to  represent  the  populous  and 
intelligent  county  of  Chariton  in  the  present  House,  is  a  native  of  Ohio,  in 
which  State  he  was  born  in  183G.  When  only  nine  years  of  age  he  re 
moved  with  his  father  to  Missouri,  settling  first  in  St.  Louis  and  subse 
quently  in  Chariton  county,  in  which  latter  locality  he  has,  with  the  ex 
ception  of  short  intervals,  continued  since  to  reside.  Having  first  received 
a  thorough  academic  education,  he  commenced  the  study  of  the  law,  and 
for  that  purpose  entered  the  office  of  Col.  A.  S.  Harris,  with  whom  he  con 
tinued  to  read,  up  to  the  outbreak  of  the  late  war.  In  the  summer  of  1861 
receiving  an  order  from  Gen.  Fremont  to  raise  troops  in  his  county,  he 
laid  aside  his  books  and  at  once  entered  upon  the  discharge  of  that  duty, 
and  as  an  acknowledgment  of  his  services,  received  a  Captain's  commis 
sion  iu  the  18th  regiment  Missouri  volunteers  on  the  organization  of  that 
command.  After  active  field  service  In  the  early  Western  campaigns,  he 
was  taken  prisoner  at  the  battle  of  Shiloh,  and  made  the  rounds  of  the 
Southern  prisons.  Being  exchanged,  he  rejoined  his  regiment  in  Missis 
sippi,  and  shortly  afterwards  was  assigned  to  provost  marshal  duty  at 
Chewalla,  Tennessee.  Being  promoted  to  the  rank  of  Major  in  1864,  he 
served  with  General  Sherman  in  his  inarch  on  Atlanta,  up  to  November 
in  that  year,  when  he  was  mustered  out  of  service.  On  leaving  his  com 
mand  he  returned  to  Chariton  county,  where  finding  a  reign  of  terror,  he, 
at  the  solicitation  of  his  fellow-citizens,  took  command  of  the  county,  and 
straightway  succeeded  in  restoring  peace  and  order.  In  the  same  year  he 
was  promoted  to  the  rank  ol  Colonel  in  the  State  service.  Since  the  war  he 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  41 

has  devoted  his  time  to  the  practice  of  his  profession.  He  has  twice  been 
the  nominee  of  his  party  for  the  seat  lie  at  present  occupies,  having  been 
defeatc  d  in  18'GS  by  Judge  Salisbury,  his  Democratic  opponent.  His  course 
since  at  the  Capital  has  given  ample  attestation  of  his  fitness  for  the  place. 
lie  h-is  taken  an  active  and  intelligent  part  in  the  consideration  of  all  sub 
jects  of  importance,  and  done  valuable  service  as  a  member  of  the  Commit 
tees  on  Militia  and  County  Boundaries. 


D.  A.  EDEXS, 

\Vi:h  the  single  exception,  possibly,  of  the  gentleman  from  the  Sixth  dis 
trict  of  St.  Louis,  there  is  no  member  on   either  side  of  the  chamber  who 
possesses  in  a  greater  degree  the  gift  of  natural  oratory  than  the  sprightly 
and   intelligent  Representative  of  the  rich   agricultural  county  of  Missis 
sippi.     Fe\v  have  engaged  more  freely  in  the  debates  of  thesession  or  done 
so  with  less  apparent  effort  or  preparation.     Mr.  Edcns  is  a  native  of  Ken 
tucky,   having  been  born   in  (I raves  county,  in  that  State,  October  2Gth, 
1807.     IJemoving  with  his  father  to  Paducah   in  lS.~iO,   he   completed  his 
ediicalion  in   the  schools  of  that  city,  and   immediately  therealter   com 
menced  the  study  of  the  law  in  the  ollice  of  Governor  .F.  Q.  A.  King.     On 
being  admitted  to  the  bar  in   ]S<U).  he  removed  to  Missouri,  and  settled  in 
the  nourishing  village  of  Charleston,  where,  with  the  exception  of  three 
ye.-u's  .-pent  in  the  South  during  the  war,  he  has  sh;ee  continued  to  reside. 
His  superior  talent  as  an  advocate  gave  him  at  once  the  first  raid;  at  the 
bar  in  his  new  home,  and  have  secured  for  him  a  large  and  lucrative  prac 
tice.     In  the  fall  of  1870,  he  accepted  at  the  hands  of  the  Democracy  of  his 
county  the  nomination  which  resulted  in  his  election  to  the  seat  he  occu 
pies  in  the  present  House.     As  a  Representative  he  has.  aside  from  his 
active  participation  in  matters  of  general  legislation,  been  a  watchful  and 
conscientious  guardian  of  the  interests  of  his  immediate  constituency,  whose 
claims  to  consideration  he  has  never  failed  to  present.     Though  politically 
a  red-hot  Democrat,  his  personal  intercourse  with  his  associates  has  been 
such  as  to  have  made  for  him  friend*  in  all   parties.     He  is  a  nu  mbur  of 
the  Committees  on  Militia  and  Swamp  Lands. 


42  PEN-PICTURES    OF   THE 

A.  H.  EDWARDS. 

Among  the  younger  members  on  the  Democratic  side  of  the  House, 
no  one  has  wasted  less  of  that  legislative  time,  which  some  one  has  esti- 
meted  to  be  worth  $7  a  minute,  than  the  intelligent,  though  reserved  and 
modest  occupant  of  desk  No.  21,  who,  with  Mr.  Abbington,  represents  the 
flourishing  county  of  St.  Charles.  While  in  no  sense  of  the  word  inattentive 
or  indifferent  to  the  business  of  the  House,  Mr.  Edwards  has  almost  en 
tirely  abstained  from  taking  part  in  the  oftentimes  frivolous  discussion  of 
minor  questions,  though  in  the  few  speeches  he  has  made  on  the  leading 
measures  of  the  session,  he  has  shown  that  he  is  by  no  means  wanting  in 
opinions  or  the  power  to  express  them.  A  lawyer  of  good  attainments 
and  varied  experience,  and  possessing  in  an  unusual  degree  ','  the  rare 
quality  of  common  sense,"  he  is  a  valuable  and  laborious  member  of  the 
important  Committees  on  Criminal  Jurisprudence,  Enrolled  Bills,  the  Pen- 
tentmry  and  Printing,  upon  whose  deliberations  he  exercises  a  positive 
influence.  Mr.  Edwards  is  a  native  of  the  Old  Dominion,  having  first  seen 
the  light  in  Henry  county,  in  that  State,  in  1836.  which,  by  a  singular  coin 
cidence  was  also  the  native  county  of  his  colleague.  His  parents  moved 
to  St.  Charles  county  in  1838,  where  he  has  acquired  a  good  education  and 
fairly  entered  upon  the  battle  of  life,  and  where,  for  so  young  a  man,  he 
has  held  prominent  and  responsible  positions.  Mr.  Edwards  is  a  gentle 
man  a  little  above  the  average  night,  of  erect  and  graceful  carriage.  His 
thoughtful  face  would  at  once  arrest  the  attention  of  the  most  casual  ob 
server. 


A.  C.  EUBAKKS, 

The  member  from  Sullivan,  was  born  in  Pike  county.  Ohio,  June  IGth, 
1832.  In  1837  his  father  removed  with  his  family  to  Missouri,  locating  in 
Audrain  county,  where  the  youth  and  early  manhood  of  the  present  Rep 
resentative  were  spent,  and  where  he  continued  to  reside  up  to  1861.  On 
the  outbreak  of  the  late  war,  taking  a  decided  stand  in  favor  of  the  unity 
of  the  States,  he  enlisted  in  the  2d  regiment  of  Missouri  cavalry,  and 
served  as  a  lieutenant  in  that  command  up  to  1864.  On  leaving  the  service 
in  the  spring  of  that  year,  the  war  then  being  practically  over,  he  located 
in  Sullivan  county,  where  he  has  since  continued  to  make  his  home,  and 
at  the  hands  of  whose  people  he  has  received  frequent  preferment  to  office. 
In  1866  he  was  elected  prosecuting  attorney  of  his  count}',  and  in  the  same 
year  chosen  a  Representative  in  the  popular  branch  of  the  Twenty-fourth 
General  Assembly.  His  experience  in  that  body  has  rendered  him  one  of 
the  most  serviceable  members  of  the  present  House.  Though  a  lawyer 
of  superior  attainments  and  good  practice,  Mr.  Eubanks  is  essentially  a 
self-made  man,  his  only  educational  advantages,  when  a  boy,  having  been 
those  of  the  log-school-house  days.  As  a  legislator  he  is  industrious,  pru- 


TWENTY-SIXTH   GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  43 

dent  and  practical,  and  as  a  speaker  ready,  terse  and  logical.  Politically, 
he  is  a  Republican  of  the  liberal  type.  Besides  his  labors  during  session 
hours  he  has  done  efficient  service  as  a  member  of  the  Committee  on 
Criminal  Jurisprudence. 


JOILN  F.  FASSEN, 

Representing  the  Carondelet  district  of  St.  Louis  county,  is  a  Hollander, 
having  been  born  in  the  city  of  Utrecht,  September  12th,  1830,  where  the 
first  thirteen  years  of  his  life  were  spent  and  the  rudiments  of  his  educa 
tion  received.  In  1849  he  immigrated  to  the  United  States,  and  located  in 
St.  Louis  county,  Missouri,  where  he  has  since  continued  to  reside. 
Though  a  farmer  by  calling,  he  has  for  a  number  of  years  taken  an  active 
part  in  politics,  and  been  honored  with  frequent  preferment  to  oilice.  In 
18GG  he  was  elected  a  justice  of  the  peace  of  Carondelet  township  ;  in  1SG8 
chosen  to  represent  his  district  in  the  popular  branch  of  the  Twenty-fifth 
Assembly,  and  in  1870  re-elected  to  a  seat  in  the  present  House.  His  ex 
perience  of  four  years  at  the  Capital  has  given  him  a  thorough  knowledge 
of  the  routine  of  legislation  and  tin,'  intricacies  of  the  rules,  and  renders 
him  entirely  at  home  in  his  seat.  Though  rarely  trespassing  on  the  time 
of  the  body,  he  never  fails  to  raise  his  voice  in  favor  of  any  measure  re 
dounding  to  the  interests  of  his  immediate  constituency.  Politically,  Mr. 
Fassen  is  a  Republican.  He  has  served  as  a  member  of  the  Committees 
on  Permanent  Seat  of  Government  and  Benevolent  and  Scientific  Institu 
tions,  and  the  special  committee  of  the  St.  Louis  Delegation. 


JOIIX  L.  GAXZHOKN. 

A  more  thoroughly  practical  member  probably  does  not  sit  in  either 
wing  of  the  Capitol  than  the  worthy  gentleman  recently  elected  to  fill  the 
vacancy  occasioned  in  the  Second  district  of  St.  Louis  by  the  death  of  Mr. 
Borg.  Though  only  a  few  weeks  in  his  seat,  it  may  be  remarked  that  he 
is  already  fully  up  in  the  business  of  the  House,  and  has  become  thor 
oughly  acsustomed  to  the  legislative  harness.  Mr.  Ganzhorn  is  a  native 
of  Pennsylvania,  having  been  born  in  the  Quaker  City,  January  2Gth, 
1832,  but  for  the  past  fourteen  years  has  been  a  resident  of  St.  Louis,  and 
closely  identified  with  the  business  interests  of  that  city,  which  he  thor- 


44  PEN-PICTURES    OF   THE 

oughly  comprehends  and  especially  represents  on  the  floor  of  the  present 
House.  During  the  late  war  he  was  an  extensive  contractor  with  the 
general  government,  and  since  that  time  has  held  the  same  relation  to  the 
city  government  of  St.  Louis,  in  both  of  which  he  has  acquired  a  reputa 
tion  for  business  tact  and  energy  united  with  the  strictest  integrity.  For 
the  past  four  years  he  has  also  held  the  position  of  school  director  in  his 
district,  and  is  at  present  chairman  of  the  township  board  of  education 
for  St.  Louis  township.  Since  a  member  of  the  House  he  has  been  always 
at  his  post,  attentive,  laborious  and  faithful  in  the  discharge,  of  his  duties, 
and  as  a  recognition  of  his  eminent  practical  qualilications  he  has  been 
assigned  by  the  Speaker  t6  the  important  Committees  on  Internal  Im 
provements  and  Ways  and  Means. 


GEO.  W.  GATES, 

Representing  the  eastern  district  of  the  populous  county  of  Jackson,  is  a 
native  of  Vermont,  in  which  State  he  was  born  in  1807.  After  receiving 
a  thorough  academic  education  he  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  the  law. 
and  had  about  prepared  himself  for  admission  to  the  practice  of  that  pro 
fession,  when  circumstances  compelling  him  to  chai  ge  his  plans,  he  turned 
his  attention  to  mercantile  pursuits,  which  he  continued  to  follow  up  to 
within  a  few  years  past.  His  private  affairs,  however,  have  by  no  means 
prevented  him  from  filling  numerous  positions  of  public  trust,  and  proba 
bly  no  one  of  his  associates  in  the  present  House  can  exhibit  an  official 
record  more  varied  or  extending  over  a  longer  period  of  time.  While  a 
resident  of  the  East  he  was  for  a  number  of  years  sheriff  of  his  native 
county,  a  postmaster  under  Jackson  and  Van  Buren,  and  United  States 
Marshal  of  the  Eastern  district  of  Vermont  under  the  latter  President. 
Suffering  a  heavy  loss  by  fire  in  1849,  he  sought  to  recover  his  fortune  in 
the  West,  and  with  that  view  emigrated  to  Illinois  where  he  sojourned  up 
to  1865,  when  he  removed  to  Missouri,  locating  in  Jackson  county.  Here 
he  was  elected  a  justice  of  the  county  court  in  1866,  and  to  the  seat  he  at 
present  occupies  in  the  House  in  1870.  Politically,  Judge  Gates  is  a  Dem 
ocrat  of  the  old  school.  As  a  legislator  he  takes  an  active  and  intelligent 
part  in  the  proceedings  of  the  body  of  which  he  is  a  member,  entertaining 
decided  views  on  all  subjects  of  importance,  and  never  failing  to  express 
them.  He  has  proven  a  serviceable  member  of  the  Committees  on  In 
ternal  Improvements  and  Roads  and  Highways,  besides  acting  as  chair 
man  of  the  Committee  on  the  Penitentiary. 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  45 

IEA  F.  GEOEGE, 

The  Representative  from  Gamden,  is  a  native  of  the  Old  Dominion, 
having  been  born  in  that  commonwealth  in  181G.  When  twelve  years  of 
age  he  emigrated  with  his  father  to  the  neighboring  State  of  Kentucky. 
where  his  early  life  was  spent,  and  where  he  continued  to  reside  up  to 
1850,  when  he  removed  to  Missouri  locating  in  Miller  county,  where  he 
served  for  two  years  as  a  judge  of  the  county  court.  In  1JS58  he  removed 
to  Canulen  county  his  present  home,  where  he  filled  the  ofiiees  of  justice 
of  the  peace  and  county  court  justice  almost  constantly  up  to  the  fall  of 
1870,  when  he  was  elected  to  his  seat  in  the  present  House.  Politically, 
Mr.  George  is  a  Liberal  Republican,  and  his  course,  in  all  instances,  has 
been  in  strict  accordance  with  the  principles  of  that  party.  Born  of  poor 
parents  and  denied  even  the  advantages  of  a  common  school  education,  he 
has  nevertheless  by  close  observation,  aided  by  natural  good  sense,  in  a  large 
measure  overcome  his  early  misfortunes.  Though  personally  modest  and 
taciturn,  amounting  almost  to  reticence,  he  is  still  notlackingin  amiability 
and  social  virtues.  The  good  people  of  Camden  might  have  chosen  a  gentle 
man  as  their  Representative  of  more  brilliant  accomplishments,  but  one 
more  faithful  to  their  interests,  or  of  greater  probity  and  sterling  worth,  it 
would  be  diilicult  for  them  to  lind. 


MICHAEL  GIEDXEE. 

The  estimable  gentleman  sitting1  in  the  present  House  as  Representa 
tive  from  Barton  county,  is  a  Kentuekian.  having  been  born  in  that  com 
monwealth  in  1814.  After  spending  the  first  twenty  years  of  his  life  in  his 
native  State,  he  removed  to  Missouri,  locating  in  Barton  county,  where 
he  has  since  continued  to  make  his  home.  By  calling,  Mr.  Girdner  is  a 
farmer,  which  pursuit  he  has  followed  since  a  boy,  abandoning  it  for  the 
first  time  in  the  fall  of  1870,  to  accept  his  present  seat  in  the  House,  the 
only  public  office  he  has  ever  aspired  to  or  tilled.  Though  a  novice  in  legis 
lation,  however,  his  county  could  not  have  sent  a  more  faithful  Represen 
tative  of  her  interests  to  the  State  Capitol,  or  one  more  assiduous  and  con 
scientious  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties.  Politically,  he  is  a  life-long  Dem 
ocrat,  and  has  acted  in  harmony  with  his  party  associates  on  all  questions 
of  a  political  character.  lie  is  a  serviceable  member  of  the  Committee  on 
Revised  and  Untinishcd  Business. 


46  PEN-PICTURES   OF   THE 

J.  E.  GOODSON. 

The  populous  county  of  Macon  has  found  an  efficient  and  zealous 
guardian  of  her  interests  in  the  worthy  gentleman  whose  name  heads  the 
present  sketch.  Dr.  Goodson,  though  a  Kentuckian  by  birth,  removed  at 
an  early  age  to  Missouri,  and  has  since  been  a  constant  resident  of  the 
northeastern  portion  of  the  State,  the  peculiar  interests  and  wants  of 
whose  people  he  fully  comprehends.  Before  locating  in  Macon,  his  pre 
sent  home,  he  was  for  a  number  of  years  a  resident  of  Carroll,  from  which 
county  he  was  elected  to  the  lower  branch  of  the  General  Assembly  nearly 
twenty  years  ago.  The  experience  gained  in  that  body  he  has  fully 
availed  himself  of  in  the  present  House,  and  few  members  are  apparently 
more  at  home  in  the  legislative  role.  Though  past  his  fiftieth  year,  he  is 
quite  as  active  a  participant  in  the  business  of  the  body  as  the  youngest  of 
its  members.  Accustomed,  as  a  minister  of  the  Gospel,  to  public  speak 
ing,  he  is  always  at  ease  on  the  floor,  and  never  fails  to  command  the  at 
tention  of  the  body.  He  has  been  the  author  of  a  number  of  the  most 
important  bills  that  have  passed  this  session,  and  has  done  faithful  service 
as  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  the  Blind  Asylum,  and  as  a  member  of 
various  special  committees.  Politically,  the  doctor  is  an  uncompromising 
Democrat. 


EDMUND  GRAY. 

There  are  few  brighter  or  more  intelligent  faces  on  the  Democratic 
side  of  the  chamber  than  that  of  the  capable,  though  modest,  in  fact  almost 
reticent  member  from  Scott  county.  Captain  Gray,  as  his  more  intimate 
friends  address  him,  is  a  native  of  Ohio,  having  been  born  in  Cincinnati, 
August  20th,  1834.  When  a  lad  of  fifteen  he  removed  to  St.  Louis,  in 
which  city  he  continued  to  make  his  home  up  to  1854,  when  he  removed 
to  Gray's  Point,  his  present  residence  in  Scott  county.  Though  now  en 
gaged  in  farming,  he  has  up  to  within  a  few  years  past  followed  the  re 
sponsible  calling  of  a  pilot  on  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers.  The  first 
and  only  office  he  has  ever  held  on  shore  is  his  seat  in  the  present  House. 
Since  at  the  Capital  his  course  has  been  such  as  to  secure  for  him  the  re 
spect  and  esteem  of  his  associates,  and  the  confidence  and  satisfaction  of 
his  constituency.  Politically,  he  is  a  Democrat  of  the  strictest  school, 
He  has  served  as  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  Accounts  and  on  several 
of  the  special  committees. 


TWENTY-SIXTH   GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  47 

JXO.  B.  HAAS, 

The  member  from  Monitean,  is,  as  his  name  would  indicate,  of  German 
origin,  having  been  born  in  the  city  of  Londan,  in  the  Bavarian  Palatinate, 
in  the  year  1832.  In  184(3  his  father  emigrated  with  his  family  to  America 
and  settled  in  St.  Louis,  where  the  subject  of  the  present  sketch  was  em 
ployed  as  a  clerk  in  a  mercantile  house 'until  1858,  when  becoming  weary 
of  the  monotony  of  that  life,  and  under  the  impulse  of  an  attack  of  "gold 
fever,"  he  started  to  California  and  crossed  the  plains  as  an  ox-teamster. 
Arriving  at  Salt  Lake,  he  spent  the  winter  with  the  Mormons,  and  in  the 
spring  continued  his  Western  journey  in  charge  of  a  cattle  train,  and  after 
much  hardship  and  many  narrow  escapes,  arrived  £.t  Sacramento  City. 
Here  he  became  an  accomplished  Californian  of  that  era,  following  by 
turns  the  callings  of  miner,  wood-chopper,  newspaper  correspondent, 
hotel  keeper  and  justice  of  the  peace,  besides  at  one  time  owning  a  large 
sheep  ranche.  He  also  took  the  first  pack-train  of  merchandise  across  the 
Sierra  Nevada  mountains  to  Gold  Hill,  when  the  mining  excitement  iirst 
broke  out  in  that  vicinity.  Having  seen  enough  of  wild  life  in  the  gold 
regions,  in  1SGG  he  returned  to  St.  Louis,  and  soon  afterwards  removed  to 
Monitean  county,  where  he  now  resides.  Politically,  he  is  a  Republican 
of  the  liberal  school.  His  course  in  the  House  has  been  such  as  to  win  for 
him  the  highest  regard  and  esteem  of  his  fellow  members.  He  has  served 
as  a  member  of  the  Committees  on  Federal  Relations  and  Local  Bills. 


F.  HACKMAN, 

Representing  the  county  of  Warren,  was  born  in  the  kingdom  of  Hanover 
in  1824.  In  1885  his  parents  immigrated  to  the  United  States,  settling  in 
Warren  county,  where  they  have  since  continued  to  reside,  and  where  the 
present  Representative  was  raised  on  a  farm.  Since  attaining  his  majority 
he  has  still  adhered  to  agricultural  pursuits,  abandoning  that  quiet  and 
independent  life  for  the  first  time  to  accept  the  seat  to  which  he  was  elected 
in  the  General  Assembly  in  the  fall  of  1870.  Though  a  Republican,  he  is 
still  a  gentleman  of  liberal  and  conservative  views,  and  in  no  instance  has 
permitted  partisanship  to  interfere  with  his  duties  as  a  legislator.  Seldom 
absent  from  his  seat,  he  is  a  close  observer  of  all  that  transpires  in  the 
chamber,  and  invariably  votes  as  his  judgment  and  conscience  dictate. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  Manufactures,  from  whose  meetings 
he  is  seldom  absent. 


48  PEN-PICTURES    OP   THE 

N.  C.  HARDIN. 

On  the  Democratic  side  of  the  chamber  and  among  the  younger  mem 
bers  of  the  House,  it  would  be  difficult  to  select  one  who  reflects  greater 
credit  upon  either  thftn  the  estimable  gentleman  who,  with  his  senior  in 
years,  Judge  Murray,  represents  the  populous  and  prosperous  county  of 
Pike.  Though  a  novice  in  legislation  at  the  inception  of  the  session,  he 
brought  to  his  aid  a  superior  scholastic  and  legal  education,  combined 
with  a  naturally  quick  perception  which  soon  enabled  him  to  acquire  a 
thorough  acquaintance  with  the  business  of  the  House  in  which  he  has 
participated  throughout  his  stay  at  the  Capital,  with  intelligence  and  an 
invariable  regard  for  the  best  interests  of  his  constituency  and  the  people 
at  large.  Deferring,  however,  to  those  of  longer  experience  he  has  seldom 
indulged  in  the  discussion  of  merely  technical  questions,  and  has  seldom, 
if  ever,  therefore  wasted  any  of  the  time  of  the  session.  Still,  while  this 
is  the  case,  he  has  by  no  means  been  a  silent  member.  His  speech  in 
advocacy  of  the  proposition  for  a  Constitutional  Convention,  delivered 
early  in  the  regular  session,  secured  for  him  a  reputation  as  a  debater 
which  his  record  since  has  fully  sustained.  Rarely  absent  from  the  cham 
ber  and  always  attentive  to  pending  measures,  his  vote  is  invariably  cast 
as  his  judgment  dictates  and  the  public  interest  requires.  Mr/Hardin  is 
a  native  Missourian,  having  been  born  in  the  county  which  it  has  devolved 
on  him  to  represent  in  the  present  Assembly,  in  1846.  Having  received  a 
thorough  academic  and  collegiate  education,  he  applied  himself  to  the 
study  of  the  law,  and  graduated  with  distinction  from  the  famous  Harvard 
law-school  at  Cambridge.  On  being  admitted  to  the  practice,  he  was  al- 
oiost  immediately  elected  city  attorney  of  Louisiana,  Pike  county,  a  posi 
tion  held  in  their  earlier  professional  days  by  John  B.  Henderson,  Geo. 
W.  Anderson,  Judge  Fagg  and  others  of  that  distinguished  bar.  When 
intrusted  with  the  responsible  duties  of  this  office  he  had  hardly  attained 
his  majority.  He  is  still  successfully  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  pro 
fession  in  his  native  county.  Of  about  the  average  hight,  of  robust 
physique,  a  broad  and  well-rounded  chest,  and  a  good  natured  and  en 
gaging  countenance,  he  may  be  classed  among  the  best-looking  as  well 
as  among  the  most  intelligent  members  of  the  House.  As  an  acknowl 
edgment  of  his  superior  qualifications  he  was  assigned  by  the  Speaker  on 
the  organization  of  the  body  to  the  important  Committees  on  the  Judiciary 
and  Internal  Improvements. 


M.  B.  W.  HABMON, 

The  member  from  Nodaway,  is  a  native  of  the  Keystone  State,  having 
first  seen  the  light  in  York  county,  of  that  commonwealth,  March  2Gth, 
1830.  When  fourteen  years  of  age  he  removed  to  Ohio,  where  he  resided 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  49 

for  tivc  years,  when  he  removed  to  Illinois.  After  a  residence  of  two 
years  in  ISnckerdom  he  again  pulled  up  stakes  and  made  his  way  to 
Georgia,  where  he  engaged  in  the  book  trade.  On  the  outbreak  of  the 
lafe  war  he  left  the  South  and  returning  to  Ohio,  enlisted  as  a  private  in 
the  31st  regiment  of  infantry  from  that  State,  in  which  he  served  in  every 
capacity  from  private  up  to  colonel  commanding.  During  the  war  he  also 
served  for  a  time  on  the  staff  of  Gen.  Thomas  and  other  general  officers, 
and  participated  in  all  the  more  important  engagements  of  the  West,  be 
ing  several  times  severely  wounded.  Having  served  gallantly  through  the 
war,  on  the  restoration  of  peace  he  removed  to  Missouri,  locating  in  Nod- 
away,  of  which  county  he  has  ever  since  been  a  resident.  A  good  soldier, 
he  has  also  proven  a  good  citizen,  and  succeeded  in  securing  the  entire 
confidence  and  esteem  of  those  with  whom  he  has  been  associated  in  his 
new  home.  As  a  mark  of  their  good  opinions  he  was  chosen  by  a  highly 
complimentary  majority  to  the  seat  he  occupies  in  the  present  House,  the 
duties  growing  out  of  which  he  has  faithfully  and  conscientiously  dis 
charged.  Politically,  Mr.  Harmon  is  a  Republican  of  the  liberal  school. 
He  has  been  an  efficient  member  of  the  Committees  on  Manufactures, 
Township  Organization  and  the  special  committee  on  the  llevenue. 


W.  R.  1IAHKIS, 

The  member  from  Montgomery,  was  born  in  Albemarle  county,  in  the 
Old  Dominion,  December  31st.  1S12.  On  completing  his  education  he  en 
gaged  in  the  occupation  of  school  teaching,  which  he  continued  to  follow 
for  live  years  and  until  his  removal  from  that  State.  In  1837  his  father  im 
migrated  with  his  family  to  Missouri,  locating  in  Montgomery  county, 
when-  lie  was  joined  by  the  present  Representative  in  the  following  year. 
On  his  arrival  in  his  new  home  he  again  applied  himself  to  school  teaching 
which  he  again  followed  for  twelve  years.  In  1850  he  was  elected  to  the 
office  of  justice  of  the  county  court  of  his  adopted  county,  and  at  the  ex 
piration  of  his  term  was  re-elected  to  the  same  position.  In  1858  he  was 
chosen  by  a  highly  complimentary  vote  to  represent  his  county  in  the 
popular  branch  of  the  General  Assembly,  and  in  1860  was  re-elected  to  the 
same  office,  holding  his  seat  until  ousted  by  the  memorable  ordinance  of 
the  Convention  of  the  following  year.  Since  that  date  he  has  resided  in 
private  retirement  on  his  farm  near  Montgomery  City,  emerging  into  pub 
lic  life  for  the  first  time  in  1871  to  accept  the  seat  in  the  present  House  ren 
dered  vacant  by  the  death  of  the  Representative  from  his  county.  Though 
a  recent  arrival  at  the  Capital,  he  is  by  no  means  a  novice  in  legislation, 
but  has  throughout  the  adjourned  session  taken  an  active  and  intelligent 
part  in  the  deliberations  of  the  body.  Politically,  he  is  a  Democrat,  and 
personally,  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school. 


50  PEN-PICTURES    OF   THE 

» 

W.  L.  H1CKMAN. 

The  member  from  the  Thirteenth  district  of  the  county  of  St.  Louis 
was  born  in  Winchester,  Kentucky,  December  19th,  1822,  and  is  therefore 
fifty  years  of  age.  During  his  infancy  his  parents  removed  to  Missouri 
settling  in  St.  Louis,  where  his  youth  was  spent  and  his  education  received. 
On  completing  his  studies  he  removed  into  the  country  and  engaged  in 
farming,  which  occupation  he  has,  with  the  exception  of  short  intervals, 
since  continued  to  follow.  In  company  with  a  party  of  fortune-seekers, 
he  crossed  the  plains  to  California  in  1853,  but  after  a  sojourn  of  one  year 
in  the  gold  regions,  returned  home.  He  also  made  a  trip  with  another 
party  to  Pike's  Peak  in  1859,  but  after  a  brief  stay  in  that  locality, 
again  returned  to  his  family  and  his  farm  in  St.  Louis  county.  On  the 
outbreak  of  the  late  war  receiving  the  appointment  of  enrolling  officer  of 
his  district,  he  entered  the  service  and  continued  therein  up  to  the  restora 
tion  of  peace,  tilling  various  offices  and  posts  of  honor,  in  all  of  which  he 
acquitted  himself  with  great  personal  credit.  Espousing  the  cause  of  Lib 
eralism  in  the  canvass  of  1870,  he  was  elected  by  his  party  to  the  seat 
which  he  at  present  fills  in  the  House.  Of  a  naturally  quiet  and  retiring 
disposition  he  has  seldom  occupied  the  floor  in  the  discussion  of  less  im 
portant  measures,  though  his  course  has  been  marked  by  close  attention  to 
the  business  of  the  body,  and  an  intelligent  consideration  of  all  subjects 
effecting  the  welfare  of  his  immediate  constituency  and  the  State  at  large. 
He  has  been  a  valuable  member  of  the  Committees  on  Claims  and  on  Ag 
riculture. 


D.  S.  HOOPEB, 

Representing  the  county  of  Adair,  was  born  in  Perry  county,  Ohio,  in 
1825,  and  is  the  son  of  a  clergymen,  who  served  as  a  Captain  in  the  Amer 
ican  army  in  the  war  of  1812.  After  receiving  a  thorough  academic  and 
collegiate  education  he  continued  to  reside  in  his  native  State  up  to  1857, 
when  he  emigrated  to  Missouri  and  settled  in  Adair  county.  Upon  the  out 
break  of  the  late  war,  taking  a  decided  stand  as  a  Union  man,  he  assisted  in 
raising  the  first  company  of  volunteers  which  was  organized  in  his  county, 
and  declining  any  office  as  a  reward  for  his  services,  enlisted  as  a  private 
soldier.  In  September  1861,  however,  he  was  promoted  to  a  Lieutenancy 
and  assigned  to  duty  as  Post  Quartermaster  at  Macon  city.  In  18G2  his 
regiment  having  been  consolidated  with  another  he  was  mustered  out  of 
service,  but  again  commissioned  as  Lieutanant  in  the  fall  of  1862,  and 
placed  upon  recruiting  service,  and  upon  the  formation  of  the  27th  Mis 
souri  Infantry  regiment,  was  commissioned  as  Captain.  He  was  finally 
discharged  from  service  on  account  of  physical  disability  in  1SG4,  and  ap 
pointed  clerk  of  the  Adair  county  circuit  court,  serving  as  such  until  18G7, 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  51 

when  he  was  appointed  sole  judge  of  the  county  and  probate  courts  of  the 
same  county.  In  the  political  campaign  of  1870,  he  was  the  candidate  of  the 
regular  Republican  party  of  his  county  for  the  position  he  now  holds,  and 
was  elected  over  his  opponent  by  a  handsome  majority.  Since  at  the  Cap- 
tal  he  has  proven  a  valuable  hard-working  member  of  the  House.  A  close 
and  accurate  reasoner,  and  a  fluent  speaker,  he  supports  his  views  upon 
all  matters  under  discussion  with  ability  and  zeal,  and  has  the  credit  of 
introducing  and  ably  advocating  several  of  the  most  important  measures 
of  the  session.  lie  is  a  member  of  the  Committees  on  Retrenchment  and 
Reform,  and  also  the  Committee  on  Printing. 


TIIOS.  J.  IIOWELL, 

Is  one  of  tire  veteran  Democrats  of  the  body,  this  being  the  sixth  time  that 
he  has  represented  the  county  of  Oregon  in  the  lower  House  of  the  Gen 
eral  Assembly.  He  was  born  in  Smith  county.  Tennessee,  in  1808,  where 
he  also  was  raised  and  educated.  In  1835  he  removed  to  Kentucky,  from 
which  State  in  1740  he  moved  to  his  present  residence  in  Oregon  county, 
when  that  county  formed  a  part  of  Ripley.  He  was  one  of  the  first  judges 
of  the  county  court  of  Oregon,  and  his  first  term  in  the  Legislature  was  in 
1842.  Though  a  fanner  b}'  occupation,  and  naturally  possessing  but  few 
of  the  requisites  jommonly  supposed  to  be  necessary  to  constitute  a  sueces- 
ful  politician,  has  probably  been  associated  with  the  political  history  of  the 
State  longer  and  more  intimately  than  any  member  of  the  present  House. 
The  frequent  calls  made  upon  him  by  his  own  people  to  serve  them  as  their 
Representative,  exhibits  an  appreciation  of  his  character,  that  his  pure 
life  and  sterling  probity  fully  warrant.  The  county  of  Howell  was  named 
in  his  honor.  In  the  present  Assembly  he  has  served  as  a  member  of  the 
Committees  on  Manufactures  and  Revised  and  Unfinished  Business. 


GEO.  II.  HUBBELL. 

A  more  intelligent  and  conscientious  legislator  or  more  polished  and 
affable  gentleman  can  scarcely  be  found  on  either  side  of  the  chamber, 
than  the  worthy  Representative  of  the  county  of  Grundy.  Mr.  Hubbell 
was  born  in  St.  Lawrence  county,  New  York,  1818.  After  completing  a 
course  of  studies  in  civil  engineering,  he  was  employed  professionally  in 


52  PEN-PICTURES   OP   THE 

the  preliminary  survey  of  the  great  Erie  railroad,  and  also  in  Martineau's 
survey  of  the  celebrated  Croton  waterworks  in  his  native  State.  On  re 
moving  to  Missouri  in  1835,  he  was  three  years  a  student  at  Marion  Col 
lege,  near  Palmyra,  and  on  leaving  that  institution  taught  school  and 
studied  law  in  Howard  county.  He  was  licensed  and  admitted  to  the  bar 
in  1841,  and  the  following  year  removed  to  Grundy  county,  where  he  has 
since  resided,  and  been  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession.  In  1847 
he  was  elected  circuit  clerk  of  his  adopted  county,  which  office  he  contin_ 
ued  to  fill  for  eighteen  consecutive  years.  In  1870  he  was  chosen  to  represent 
his  county  in  the  present  House,  of  which  body  he  has  proven  a  laborious 
and  influential  member.  Courteous  in  his  manners,  moderate  in  his  polit 
ical  opinions,  with  discriminating  judgment,  and  as  a  speaker  forcible  and 
effective,  and  possessing  the  faculty  of  always  impressing  his  hearers  with 
his  own  sincerity  of  purpose,  he  has  taken  an  active  'part  in  shaping  the 
legislation  of  the  session.  He  has  served  as  a  member  of  the  Committees 
on  Federal  Relations  and  Roads  and  Highways. 


THOMAS  G.  HUTT. 

Though  the  present  House  is  essentially  one  of  young  men,  it  is,  how 
ever,  by  no  means  lacking  in  that  gravity,  experience  and  maturity  of 
judgment,  which  is  looked  for  and  more  generally  found  in  those  of  riper 
years.  Among  those  whose  frosted  hair  and  uniformly  dignified  deport 
ment  give  character  to  the  body,  no  one  on  the  floor  or  in  the  less  re 
strained  associations  of  legislative  life,  enjoys  in  a  greater  degree  the  con 
fidence  and  respect  of  all,  and  especially  of  his  younger  associates,  than 
the  member  from  Lincoln  county.  A  native  of  the  Old  Dominion,  in 
which  glorious  commonwealth  he  was  born  in  1817,  Mr.  Hutt  is  peculi 
arly  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school,  pleasant  in  address,  easy  and  attractive 
in  manners,  possessed  of  a  keen  and  ready  perception,  most  excellent 
judgment  and  a  scrupulous  regard  for  the  interests  of  his  constituents,  he 
may  be  described,  in  much  shorter  phrase,  as  an  agreeable  gentleman,  an 
efficient,  laborious  and  conscientious  legislator.  Seldom  among  the  ab 
sentees,  either  from  the  House,  or  the  committee-room,  he  has  discharged 
the  duties  that  have  devolved  upon  him  with  uniform  fidelity  and  intelli 
gence.  Though  a  Democrat  of  the  strictest  school,  he  has  in  no  instance 
betrayed  a  forgetfulness  of  that  courtesy  due  those  who  differ  with  him  ; 
and  I  am  doing  him  but  simple  justice,  I  believe,  in  saying  that  he  is  quite 
as  popular,  personally  and  socially,  on  the  Radical  side  of  the  chamber  as 
with  his  own  party  friends  and  associates.  Mr.  Hutt  has  been  a  resident 
of  Missouri  and  of  the  county  he  at  present  represents  for  over  thirty-four 
years,  during  which  time  he  has  made  himself  fully  acquainted  with  their 
interests.  He  is  at  present  engaged  in  farming,  although  for  a  series  of 
years  he  has  discharged  the  duties  of  the  office  of  clerk  of  the  circuit  court 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  53 

of  Lincoln  county.  In  personal  appearance  he  is  about  the  average  hight, 
of  robust  physique,  an  open,  intellectual  and  pleasant  countenance.  His 
hair  and  whiskers,  of  which  he  has  a  bountiful  growth,  are  almost  as  white 
as  snow,  making  him  a  marked  man  as  he  sits  at  his  desk  surrounded  by 
younger,  but  not  more  efficient  or  more  active  members.  He  has  been  an 
efficient  member  of  the  Committees  on  Internal  Improvements,  Township 
Organization  and  County  Boundaries. 


GEO.  W.  KITCIIEX, 

The  wide-awake  and  clear-headed  member  from  Stoddard,  was  born  in 
Torre  Haute,  Indiana,  November  17th,  1842.  During  his  infancy  his  fam 
ily  removed  to  Missouri  settling  in  btoddard  count)',  of  which  locality  he 
has  since  been  a  constant  resident.  Since  attaining  his  majority  lie  has 
at  different  times  followed  the  avocation  of  farming,  milling  and  merchan 
dising,  in  each  and  all  of  which  he  has  applied  the  indomitable  energy 
which  constitutes  the  most  conspicuous  trait  of  his  character,  the  result  of 
which  has  been  the  accumulation  of  a  handsome  fortune.  In  18(i(!  lie  was 
elected  sheriff  of  his  county,  and  in  1S68  was  re-elected  to  the  same  posi 
tion.  During  his  second  term,  it  devolved  upon  him  to  execute  the  sentence 
of  death  on  the  notorious  Skagg  for  the  murder  of  General  Richardson  at 
Memphis,  Tennessee,  the  circumstances  attending  which  are  still  fresli  in 
the  public  mind.  Elected  in  1870  as  a  Liberal  Republican  to  the  seat  he 
occupies  in  the  present  House,  his  course  as  a  legislator  has  been  marked 
by  the  strictest  regard  for  the  interests  of  his  constituency,  while  in  his 
intercourse  with  his  associates  both  during  and  out  of  session  hours  has 
been  such  as  to  render  him  universally  popular.  He  has  served  as  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Committees  on  Justices  of  the  Peace  and  Swamp  Lands. 


WILL  J.  KXOTT. 

It  is  perhaps  the  misfortune  of  the  majority  in  the  present  House  that 
it  has  not  a  recognized  leader.  Among  those  whose  judgment  is  consulted 
and  whose  opinions  are  deferred  to  most  frequently  by  their  associates  no 
one  approximates  more  nearly  to  leadership  than  the  clear-headed,  con 
scientious  and  indefatigable  member  from  Osage  county.  The  general 
correctness  of  his  views,  the  untarnished  honesty  and  integrity  of  his  per- 


54  PEN-PICTURES    OF   THE 

sonal  character,  his  insinuating1  manners,  and,  withal,  his  familiarity  with 
the  business  of  the  body  and  the  intricacies  of  the  rules,  gives  him  an  in 
fluence  and  power  which  is  recognized  alike  by  friend  and  foe.  His  advo 
cacy  of  any  measure  is  little  less  than  a  guarantee  of  its  success,  while  his 
opposition,  which  is  never  the  result  of  prejudice  or  traceable  to  personal 
motives  or  interest,  is  almost  a  certain  defeat.  While  a  ready,  pointed 
and  fluent  speaker,  he  makes  no  effort,  however,  at  oratory.  In  the  subject 
matter,  rather  than  the  manner  of  his  delivery,  lies  the  effectiveness  of 
what  he  has  to  say.  The  fact,  also,  that  he  never  speaks  for  the  mere  love 
or  pride  of  speaking,  but  only  when  his  convictions  of  duty  impel  him  to 
do  so,  secures  for  him  the  invariable  attention  of  the  body.  Mr.  Knott  is 
a  native  Missourian,  having  been  born  in  St.  Charles  county  in  1836.  He 
has  resided  at  various  times  in  St.  Louis,  Callaway  and  Osage  counties, 
finally  settling  in  the  latter  county  in  1856,  in  which  he  has  since  continued 
to  make  his  home,  and  where  he  is  at  present  engaged  in  manufacturing. 
Recognizing  his  superior  qualifications,  he  was  chosen  by  his  present  con 
stituency  to  represent  them  in  the  popular  branch  of  the  Twenty-fifth 
Assembly,  in  which  body  his  legislative  experience  began.  It  was  during 
the  adjourned  session  of  that  Assembly  that  the  important  measures  look 
ing  to  the  political  reinstatement  of  the  disfranchised  classes  in  the  State 
were  carried  through,  and  to  no  one  of  the  minority  in  that  body  was 
their  success  more  attributable  than  to  Mr.  Knott.  During  the  same  ses 
sion,  also,  he  rendered  invaluable  service  on  the  special  committee  to  inves 
tigate  the  management  of  the  Penitentiary,  and  was  in  a  large  measure 
instrumental  in  bringing  about  the  much-needed  reforms  in  that  institu 
tion.  Re-elected  to  the  present  House,  he  has  labored  not  more  earnestly,, 
though  much  more  effectively,  with  the  majority  of  this  body.  Besides  his 
untiring  labors  during  session  hours,  he  has  served  as  chairman  of  the  im 
portant  special  committees  on  the  Revenue,  on  the  Registration  law  and 
the  committee  to  investigate  the  management  of  the  Lexington  and  St. 
Louis  railroad,  and  has  been  a  member  of  the  Committees  on  Printing  and 
the  Deaf  and  Dumb  and  Lunatic  Asylums.  Politically,  Mr.  Knott  is  a 
Democrat,*and  will  lose  no  fair  opportunity  to  strengthen  his  party  in  the 
State.  In  personal  appearance  he  is  rather  under  the  medium  hight,  with 
a  clear  sharp  black  eye,  a  fine  complexion  and  a  good  head,  which  sets 
easily,  almost  jauntily,  upon  broad,  square  shoulders  and  a  generally  robust 
physique. 


AUGUST  KOCH, 

Representing  the  Third  district  of  St.  Louis,  was  born  in  Westphalia, 
Prussia,  in  1818.  He  attended  the  common  schools  of  the  country  until 
twelve  years  old,  when,  with  a  view  of  perfecting  himself  in  the  modern 
languages  and  natural  sciences,  he  went  to  a  private  institution  of  learning 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  55 

where  especial  attention  was  given  to  those  branches  of  study.  After 
finishing  a  regular  course  there,  he  entered  a  mercantile  establishment  to 
obtain  a  practical  knowledge  of  commercial  pursuits,  and  remained  there 
until  he  attained  his  twentieth  year,  when,  under  the  inexorable  military- 
laws  of  Prussia,  he  was  compelled  to  enter  the  army.  After  performing 
one  year's  service  he  obtained  permission  to  emigrate  and  came  to  Ameri 
ca,  landing  in  New  Orleans  in  1840.  He  remained  in  New  Orleans  and  the 
South,  engaged  in  commercial  operations  until  the  Mexican  war  begun, 
when  he  enlisted  as  a  private  in  the  2d  regiment  of  Louisiana  volunteers, 
and  did  service  on  the  Rio  Grande  and  under  Gen.  Taylor  until  the  six 
months  for  which  he  enlisted  expired,  when  he  was  appointed  interpreter 
of  the  French  and  Spanish  languages  to  the  chief  of  subsistence,  which 
position  he  filled  until  the  close 'of  the  war.  Removing  to  Missouri,  he 
lived  in  the  State  only  one  year,  and  then  in  1850  went  across  the  plains 
to  California,  suffering  all  the  hardships  incident  to  this  journey  at  that 
early  period  in  the  history  of  the  then  unknown  West.  In  1854  he  re 
turned  to  St.  Louis,  where  he  has  since  resided.  Though  a  gentleman  of 
superior  education  and  possessing  a  large  fund  of  practical  information, 
he  is  nevertheless  among  the  more  quiet  and  reserved  members  of  the 
House,  and  has  taken  little  or  no  part  in  the  debates  of  the  session.  While 
this  is  the  case,  however,  no  member  is  more  intelligently  observant  of 
the  business  of  the  bod}',  or  votes  on  all  questions  with  better  judgment. 
Politically,  Mr.  Koch  is  a  conscientious  and  consistent  Democrat,  lie  has 
been  a  useful  member  of  the  Committees  on  Immigration,  Revised  and 
Unfinished  Business,  and  the  special  committee  of  the  St.  Louis  Delega 
tion. 


D.  L.  KOST, 

The  capable  member  from  Daviess,  is  a  native  of  Ohio,  having  been  born 
in  Knox  county,  in  that  State,  February  18th,  1835.  After  receiving- a 
thorough  scholastic  education  he  removed  to  Illinois,  and  subsequently  to 
Kansas,  and  after  a  brief  sojourn  in  these  States  returned  in  18(10  to  his 
native  State  and  commenced  the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of  Hon.  Mr. 
Shellabarger  at  Springfield  at  the  same  date  that  his  colleague  in  the 
present  House,  Mr.  Bohn,  was  reading  with  that  gentleman.  In  the  fol 
lowing  year  he  graduated  with  credit  at  the  Ohio  Law  School  at  Cleve 
land,  and  was  shortly  thereafter  admitted  to  the  bar  of  his  native  county. 
At  the  outbreak  of  the  late  war  between  the  States  he  enlisted  in  the  Goth 
regiment  of  Ohio  infantry,  in  which  he  served  as  a  private  up  to  August, 
18G3,  when  being1  honorably  discharged,  he  returned  to  his  home,  and  a 
few  months  thereafter  removed  to  Missouri,  locating  in  Daviess  county,  of 
which  locality  he  has  since  been  a  constant  resident.  Here  he  commenced 
the  publication  of  the  North  Missourian,  a  vigorous  Republican  newspa- 


56  PEN-PICTURES    OP   THE 

per,  which  he  continued  to  conduct  up  to  1870  in  connection  with  the 
practice  of  his  profession.  In  18G8  he  was  appointed  and  served  as  super 
intendent  of  registration  for  the  Fourth  Senatorial  district,  and  in  1870 
was  chosen  to  represent  his  county  in  the  popular  branch  of  the  Twenty- 
sixth  Assembly.  Of  a  naturally  superior  intellect,  cultivated  and  devel 
oped  by  study,  a  good  writer,  and  fluent  and  forcible  speaker,  he  has  dis 
charged  the  duties  devolving  on  him  at  the  Capital  with  fidelity  and 
marked  ability.  Besides  his  valuable  services  during  session  hours,  lie  has 
been  an  active  and  influential  member  of  the  Committees  on  Elections  and 
Insurance,  and  the  special  committees  on  Revenue  and  Common  Pleas  and 
Probate  Courts. 


J.  C.  LAMSON, 

Representing  the  extreme  Southwestern  county  of  McDonald,  is  a  New 
Yorker,  having  been  born  in  Jefferson  county,  in  that  State,  in  1834.  In 
1837  his  father  immigrated  with  his  family  to  Ohio,  and  after  a  sojourn  of 
three  years  in  that  State  removed  to  Indiana,  where  the  youth  of  the  pre 
sent  Representative  was  spent,  and  where  he  continued  to  reside  up  to 
1859,  when  he  removed  to  Missouri,  settling  in  Polk  county.  After  a  so 
journ  of  one  year  in  this  locality  he  again  pulled  up  stakes  and  set  out  for 
Texas,  and  after  a  brief  stay  in  the  Lone-star  State  visited  Minnesota,  and 
thence  returned  to  his  old  home  in  Indiana,  where  he  enlisted  in  the  17th 
regiment  of  mounted  infantry  from  that  State,  which  at  that  time  was  be 
ing  organized  for  the  late  war.  In  this  command  he  continued  to  serve 
for  four  years  and  four  months,  throughout  which  period  he  was  con 
stantly  in  active  field  service,  and  participated  in  all  the  important  engag- 
ments  of  the  army  of  the  Tennessee.  On  leaving  the  service  he  paid  a 
second  visit  to  Missouri  and  located  in  McDonald  county,  where  he  still 
resides,  and  wTith  whose  interests  he  is  thoroughly  identified.  Mr.  Lam- 
son  is  a  gentleman  of  superior  scholastic  and  legal  education,  having 
graduated  before  the  war  at  Oberlin,  Ohio,  and  afterwards  at  the  law  uni 
versity  at  Albany,  in  his  native  State.  He  is  at  present  engaged  success 
fully  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  McDonald  and  the  adjoining  coun 
ties.  Though  among  the  most  quiet  and  unobtrusive  members  of  the 
House,  he  is  a  close  observer  of  all  that  transpires  in  the  hall,  and  always 
votes  with  intelligence  and  good  judgment.  Politically,  he  is  a  Republi 
can.  By  an  oversight  of  the  Speaker  the  only  committee  to  which  he  was 
assigned  on  the  organization  was  that  of  Local  Bills. 


TWENTY-SIXTH   GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  57 


J.  W.  LANGSTOJST, 

Representing  the  First  district  of  Greene,  including  the  flourishing  city 
of  Springfield,  is  a  native  of  Kentucky,  having  been  born  in  Logan  county, 
of  that  commonwealth,  October  5th,  1829.  When  an  infant  his  family 
immigrated  to  Southwest  Missouri,  settling  in  Greene  county,  where  the 
present  Representative  was  raised  on  a  farm.  Taking  a  decided  stand  in 
favor  of  the  unity  of  the  States  in  the  late  war  lie  entered  the  State  service, 
in  which  he  participated  in  the  battle  of  Springfield,  in  which  he  was  taken 
a  prisoner.  Since  the  war  he  has  led  the  life  of  a  quiet  and  independent 
farmer.  In  the  late  disruption  of  the  Radical  party  he  espoused  the  liberal 
cause,  and  was  elected  on  that  ticket  to  the  seat  he  occupies  in  the  present 
House,  the  duties  growing  out  of  which  he  has  conscientiously  discharged. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  the  Library. 


IIEXRY  J.  LATSIIA\V. 

This  gentleman  was  born  in  Canada,  in  1835,  and  lived  for  some  time 
in  Illinois,  where  he  entered  into  a  successful  business  and  became  promi 
nent  as  a  Democrat  in  the  politics  of  the  State.  He  removed  to  Missouri 
in  18GG  and  settled  in  Kansas  City,  where  he  engaged  extensively  in  the 
lumber  trade,  extending  his  operations  far  down  into  Kansas,  Texas,  and 
the  Indian  Xation.  In  all  the  commercial  enterprises  of  his  city  he  took 
a  prominent  part,  making  a  specialty  of  grain  shipments,  to  control  which, 
he  built  a  very  large  and  commodious  elevator.  In  1S70  he  was  elected  as 
a  Democrat  from  the  Western  district  of  Jackson  county,  to  the  lower 
House  of  the  Missouri  Legislature.  Appointed  chairman  of  the  Commit 
tee  on  Ways  and  Means— one  of  the  most  necessary  and  important  in  leg 
islation — he  entered  at  once  upon  his  duties  with  the  same  business  energy 
and  intelligence  that  had  characterized  his  operations  in  private  life.  As 
a  speaker,  he  is  forcible,  logical  and  fluent,  relying  more  upon  the  solidity 
of  his  arguments  than  upon  their  adornment,  more  upon  his  facts  than  his 
rhetoric.  In  his  intercourse  with  his  colleagues,  he  is  polite,  accommo 
dating  and  agreeable,  understanding  thoroughly  the  etiquette  due  in  the 
conflicts  and  clashings  of  policies,  and  knowing  how  to  insist  with  iirmness 
and  yield  with  good  nature.  A  large  experience  and  much  practice  have 
fitted  him  particularly  as  a  working  member  of  the  Legislature.  The  pro 
positions  that  come  from  his  hands  are  always  elear  and  convincing,  and 
no  bill  is  left  unfinished  until  he  has  mastered  it  in  every  point  in  which 
it  can  be  presented.  His  mind  is  of  the  analytical  kind,  seeking  rather  to 
satisfy  its  own  doubts  first  before  attempting  to  remove  the  doubts  of  oth 
ers.  This  makes  him  ardent,  earnest  and  enthusiastic,  and  prevents  him 
from  being  a  hike-warm  friend  or  a  kindly  enemy.  His  convictions  come 


58  PEN-PICTURES    OF   THE 

from  the  head  and  not  from  the  heart,  hence,  as  a  legislator,  while  he  is 
always  safe  he  is  sometimes  most  positive.  In  the  contest  of  ]870,  he  took 
a  prominent  part,  carrying  his  district  handsomely,  in  spite  of  a  most  rigid 
registration,  and  was  one  of  the  hardest  and  most  consistent  workers  in 
the  Democratic  ranks.  The  choice  of  many  for  the  mayor  of  Kansas  City, 
and,  later,  for  a  seat  in  Congress,  he  yet  waived  all  aspirations  in  the  pecu 
liar  nature  of  the  crisis,  preferring  rather  to  give  a  Democratic  Legislature 
to  Missouri  than  to  insist  upon  withdrawing  from  a  race  in  which  another 
man  would  have  been  beaten. 


BENJAMIN  LEACH, 

Who  represents  the  county  of  Gasconade,  was  born  in  the  State  of  Illinois 
in  1815,  and  consequently  may  be  classed  among  the  older  members  of  the 
House.  At  that  early  period  in  the  history  of  the  West  when  schools  were 
scarce  and  educational  facilities  limited,  he  had  the  advantages  of  at 
tending  a  common  school  for  only  about  six  months.  Marrying  in  1837, 
he  was  ordained  a  minister  of  the  Baptist  church  in  1839,  and  soon  there 
after  removed  to  this  State,  where  he  has  since  resided.  For  many  years 
he  has  been  a  warm  friend  of  the  free  school  system,  and  a  laborer  in  be 
half  of  its  promotion.  In  1868  he  was  the  Republican  candidate  to  repre 
sent  his  county  in  the  General  Assembly,  but  was  defeated,  but  in  the  last 
canvass  he  was  elected  as  a  Liberal  to  the  same  position  by  a  highly  com 
plimentary  majority.  He  is  a  quiet,  taciturn  member,  but  a  gentleman  of 
modest  worth  and  sterling  integrity.  He  has  served  as  a  member  of  the 
Committee  on  Manufactures. 


W.  T.  LEEPER, 

The  member  from  Wayne,  is  the  unquestioned  leader  of  the  retrenchment 
and  reform  element  in  the  House.  While  he  cannot  be  called  an  orator, 
he  is  nevertheless  a  forcible  and  effective  speaker.  His  style  of  thought  and 
expression  is  strong  common  sense  uttered  in  equally  strong  language, 
wherein  lie  the  elements  of  his  success  and  influence  over  the  more  prac 
tical  minds  of  the  body.  He  is  among  the  most  attentive  and  industrious 
members  of  the  House,  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  no  measure  of  general  in 
terest  has  escaped  his  notice  and  no  attempted  extravagance,  however  well 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL    ASSEMBLY.  59 

concealed,  escaped  his  scrutiny.  Decided  in  his  convictions  and  fearless 
in  their  utterance,  lie  boldly  grapples  with  whatever  he  deems  to  be  wrong 
or  erroneous.  Mr.  Leeper  was  born  in  Maury  county.  Tennessee,  in  1823, 
and  spent  his  youth  on  his  father's  farm.  Removing  to  Missouri  in  1857, 
he  settled  in  Wayne  county,  in  which  locality  he  has  since  resided,  follow 
ing  the  calling  of  a  farmer.  lie  has  taken  an  active  part  in  politics  for  the 
past  twelve  years.  lie  was  a  member  of  the  memorable  convention  of  1801 , 
in  which  he  strongly  opposed  the  withdrawal  of  Missouri  from  the  Union. 
At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  he  entered  the  Federal  service  as  a  Captain, 
and  continued  therein  up  to  the  restoration  of  peace.  On  leaving  the  ser 
vice  he  took  the  stump  in  opposition  to  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution 
of  LSG5,  canvassing  the  greater  portion  of  the  Southwest.  lie  was  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Twenty-fifth  Assembly,  in  which,  his  course  as  it  has  been  in 
the  present  body,  was  that  of  a  zealous  and  consistent  Demoerat.  In  ad 
dition  to  his  valuable  services  in  his  seat  and  on  the  floor  of  the  House, 
has  been  an  influential  and  hard-working  member  of  the  Committees  on 
Education,  Revenue  and  County  Boundaries,  of  the  latter  of  which  he  is 
chairman,  lie  has  also  served  on  several  of  the  most  important  special 
committees. 


JAMES  S.  LOG  AX, 

The  Representative  from  the  county  of  Carroll,  was  born  in  Harrison 
county,  Ohio,  in  1812.  During  his  infancy,  his  father  taking  his  family 
and  household  goods  upon  a  keel-boat,  started  down  the  Ohio  river  in 
search  of  a  home  in  the  Western  wilds,  and  settling  in  Perry  count}',  of 
this  State,  opened  a  farm.  After  a  few  years  of  rough  experience,  the 
family  moved  to  Jackson  county,  Illinois.  It  was  while  they  were  living 
here  that  the  "Black  Hawk"  war  began,  and  young  Logan,  though  a  mere 
stripling  at  the  time,  enlisted  and  served  to  the  close  as  a  private  soldier. 
After  this  he  studied  medicine  in  Columbia,  Illinois,  and  subsequently  re 
moved  to  Rails  county,  Missouri,  where  he  opened  a  drug  store.  In  1843 
and  1844  he  attended  the  lectures  at  Kemper  College,  St.  Louis,  in  the  latter 
part  of  1844  removed  to  DeWitt,  Carroll  county,  where  he  has  ever  since 
resided,  devoting  himself  exclusively  to  the  practice  of  his  profession,  un 
til  in  the  fall  of  1870,  having  received  the  nomination  of  the  Liberal  Re 
public;)  us  for  the  office  be  now  holds,  he  made  an  energetic  and  successful 
canvass  of  the  county,  and  was  elected  by  a  decided  majority.  In  politics, 
Dr.  Logan  is  a  bold  and  outspoken  conservative,  who  has  worked  faith 
fully  and  efficiently  to  preserve  intact  the  organization  and  carry  out  the 
principles  of  the  Liberal  party.  Personally,  he  is  a  gentleman  of  pleasing- 
address,  and  much  sincerity  of  manners.  He  has  made  several  lengthy 
arguments  upon  the  floor  of  the  House  on  important  subjects,  and,  as  a 
speaker,  is  noted  for  his  line  voice,  his  energy  of  style,  and  the  decided 


60  PEN-PICTURES    OF    THE 

manner  in  which  he  advocates  his  views.  He  has  rendered  good  service 
on  several  important  standing  committees,  especially  upon  that  on  Elec 
tions. 


SPEXCER  MARLIN, 

The  Liberal  Representative  from •  Webster,  was  born'in  Stimncr  county, 
Tennessee,  April  7th,  1814,  though  he  has  been  a  resident  of  Missouri  for 
nearly  half  a  century.  In  the  fall  of  1820  his  family  removed  to  this  State 
settling:  in  Marion  county,  where  he  remained  with  them  for  thirteen  years, 
when  he  removed  to  what  is  now  the  county  of  Webster,  of  which  he  has 
ever  since  been  a  citizen.  In  1866  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  county 
court  of  his  adopted  county,  in  which  capacity  he  continued  to  serve  up 
to  the  fall  of  1870,  when  he  was  chosen  to  represent  the  county  in  the  pop 
ular  branch  of  the  present  Assembly.  Politically,  Judge  Maiiin  is  a  Re 
publican  of  the  liberal  school,  and  by  calling,  an  unpretentious  farmer. 
Though,  I  believe,  he  has  never  occupied  the  floor  since  a  member  of  the 
House,  he  has  been  closely  observant  of  all  that  has  transpired  during 
session  hours,  and  prepared  to  vote  on  all  questions  with  good  judgment. 


H.  D.  MAESHALL. 

No  member  of  the  present  House  has  been  a  more  earnest  laborer  in 
the  work  of  retrenchment  and  reform  than  the  capable  and  conscientious 
Representative  from  Putnam.  The  onorous  duties  imposed  on  him  by  the 
Speaker  in  his  appointment  to  the  chairmanship  of  the  committee  especi 
ally  charged  with  the  consideration  of  questions  of  legislative  economy, 
have  been  performed  with  untiring  assiduity  and  fidelity,  and  many  of 
the  most  important  measures  of  the  session  looking  to  the  relief  of  the  tax 
payer,  owe  their  success  to  his  individual  efforts.  Mr.  Marshall  is  a  Vir 
ginian,  having  been  born  in  Franklin  county,  of  that  commonwealth,  No 
vember  30th,  1830.  In  1838  his  family  emigrated  to  Mississippi,  and  after 
a  sojourn  of  four  years  in  that  State,  removed  to  Missouri  locating  in  what 
is  now  Putnam,  but  was  at  that  time  Adair  county.  Here  the  present 
Representative  grew  up  to  manhood,  and  has  since  continued  to  reside. 
His  official  career  which  has  been  a  long  as  well  as  an  honorable  one, 
commenced  in  1859,  in  which  year  he  was  appointed  assessor  of  his  adopt- 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  61 

ed  county.  In  the  fall  of  the  same  year  he  also  was  elected  clerk  of  the 
county  court,  which  position  he  continued  to  hold  for  eleven  consecutive 
years,  and  until  elected  to  the  scat  he  fills  in  the  Twenty-sixth  Assembly. 
In  politics  formerly  an  Old  Line  Whig1,  he  has  since  the  war  been  a  con 
servative  Republican,  and  is  at  present  a  zealous  member  of  the  Liberal 
faction  of  that  party.  His  only  participation  in  the  late  unpleasantness 
was  in  the  capacity  of  quartermaster  of  the  45th  Missouri  regiment,  a  po 
sition  to  which  he  was  appointed  in  1864,  and  in  which  he  served  one  year. 
As  a  member  of  the  House,  he  has  been  a  hard  but  quiet  worker.  Besides 
filling  the  chairmanship  of  the  Committee  on  Retrenchment  and  Reform, 
he  has  also  served  as  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Swamp  Lands,  and 
as  a  member  of  the  special  committees  on  the  revenue  and  the  judical  re- 
districtinsr  df  the  State. 


S.  F.  MAKTL?sT, 

Who  sits  as  the  Representative  from  Caldwell  in  the  present  House,  is  a 
native  of  Illinois,  having  been  born  in  Marion  county,  in  that  State,  Janu 
ary  25th,  1826.  In  1838  his  father  removed  with  his  family  to  Iowa,  where 
the  present  Representative  continued  to  reside  up  to  1850,  when  he  crossed 
the  plains  and  spent  three  years  in  the  gold  regions  of  California.  Return 
ing  from  the  Pacific  seaboard,  he  again  took  up  his  residence  in  the  Hawk- 
eye  State,  where  he  remained  up  to  18(57,  when  he  came  to  Missouri  set 
tling  in  the  county  whose  interests  have  been  intrusted  to  his  charge  in 
the  popular  branch  of  the  Twenty-sixth  Assembly.  He  has  at  various 
times  followed  the  callings  of  farmer,  merchant  and  mechanic,  in  all  of 
which  lie  has  applied  that  energy  for  which  he  is  characterized.  He  has 
filled  numerous  offices  of  a  local  character,  and  is  at  present  President  of 
the  Board  of  Education  of  the  town  of  Hamilton,  in  his  adopted  county. 
Since  a  member  of  the  House  he  has  taken  a  lively  interest  and  an  active 
and  intelligent  part  in  the  proceedings  of  that  body,  and  has  exhibited  an 
unfailing  devotion  to  his  duties.  He  has  served  as  a  member  of  the  Com 
mittees  on  the  Library  and  on  Fees  and  Salaries.  Politically,  Mr.  Martin 
is  a  Republican,  though  at  all  times  tolerant  of  the  views  of  those  who 
differ  with  him. 


62  PEN-PICTURES   OF   THE 

JOHN  I.  MARTIN. 

The  self-made  man,  is  the  true  hero,  and  to  no  one  sitting  in  the  pres 
ent  House  is  the  term  self-made  more  applicable  than  to  the  youthful 
member  who  represents  the  Ninth  district  of  St.  Louis.  Mr.  Martin  owes 
his  success  to  none  but  himself.  Those  obstacles  which  others  have  re 
garded  as  insuperable,  he  has  quietly  surmounted.  In  his  lexicon  there 
has  not  been  nor  is  there  such  word  as  fail.  Born  in  St.  Louis  May  24th, 
1848,  he  is  among  the  younger,  with  two  exceptions,  the  youngest  mem 
ber  of  the  House.  His  success  proves  his  merit.  Born  of  poor  parents, 
and  left  almost  from  infancy  to  his  own  resource  he  has  without  the  fac 
titious  aids  by  which  others  have  risen  made  his  way  up  from  the  driver 
of  a  dray  in  the  streets  of  his  native  city  to  a  seat  in  the  legislative  halls 
of  the  State,  as  the  Representative  of  one  of  its  wealthiest  and  most  intelli 
gent  communities.  To  give  the  vicissitudes  through  which  he  has  passed 
in  reaching  his  present  station,  would  exceed  the  space  allotted  in  the  pres 
ent  volume.  The  elements  of  success  which  he  has  possessed  from  the  first, 
and  which  have  especially  marked  his  course  at  the  Capital,  are  recog 
nized  and  appreciated  by  his  associates.  His  refined  social  impulses, 
his  polished  manners,  his  unspotted  purity  of  life,  and  I  may  be  pardoned 
for  adding,  his  comely  and  prepossessing  personal  appearance,  give  him 
popularity  wherever  he  is  known.  Since  in  the  House  he  has  served  as  a 
member  of  a  number  of  important  committees,  and  as  the  chairman  of 
the  Committee  on  Enrolled  Bills,  has  discharged  the  duties  attached  to 
that  position  with  marked  fidelity  and  promptness.  Though  he  seldom 
indulges  in  the  debates,  when  he  does  so,  the  vivacity  and  vigor  of  his 
thoughts  as  well  as  his  delivery  always  secure  for  him  an  attentive  hear 
ing.  Politically,  Mr.  Martin  is  a  zealous  Democrat. 


W.  O.  MAUPIN, 

Representing  the  old,  populous  and  Democratic  county  of  Saline,  is  a  na 
tive  of  Virginia,  having  been  born  in  Albemarle  county,  in  that  State,  Oc 
tober  17th,  1808.  After  graduating  with  honor  from  the  university  of  his 
native  State,  he  commenced  the  study  of  the  law,  and  being  admitted  to 
the  bar,  followed  for  several  years  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Albe« 
marie  and  the  adjoining  counties.  In  1837  he  was  united  in  marriage  to 
the  daughter  of  H.  H.  McDowell,  Esq.,  a  lady  of  great  personal  beauty 
and  varied  accomplishments,  and  two  years  thereafter  emigrated  to  Mis 
souri,  locating  in  Saline  county  when  that  locality  was  comparatively  an 
unreclaimed  wilderness.  Devoting  the  first  three  years  of  his  residence  in 
his  new  home  to  the  practice  of  his  profession,  he  abandoned  it  at  the  end 
of  that  time  to  engage  in  farming,  a  calling  which  he  has  since  continued 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  63 

to  follow.  Commencing  with  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace  he  has  at 
various  times  filled  almost  every  position  in  the  gift  of  his  immediate  con 
stituency.  After  serving  for  a  number  of  years  as  a  judge  of  the  county 
court  of  his  county,  he  was  in  1850  elected  to  a  seat  ii*  the  lower  branch  of 
the  Legislature,  and  in  1852  re-elected  to  the  same  position.  In  1802  he  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  Senate  from  his  district,  embracing  the  populous 
and  intelligent  counties  of  Saline,  Lafayette  and  Pettis.  During  his  sec 
ond  term  in  the  House  he  was  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Agricul- 
tur,  and  as  such  was  the  author  of  the  admirable  report  on  the  establish 
ment  of  a  State  agricultural  society  at  Boonville,  from  which  has  since 
sprung  the  numerous  county  societies  of  a  similar  character  whiih  ramify 
the  whole  State.  The  fact  that  in  those  days  ten  thousand  copies  of  this 
paper  were  ordered  by  the  House  to  be  printed,  is  perhaps  the  highest, 
compliment  that  could  have  been  paid  its  author.  As  a  member  of  the 
present  Assembly  to  which  he  was  chosen  in  the  fall  of  ]870,  Mr.  Maupin 
has  fully  availed  himself  of  the  experience  gained  in  the  earlier  days  of  his 
official  career,  and  has  taken  an  active  and  intelligent  part  in  the  proceed 
ings  of  the  body  in  which  he  sits.  lie  has  done  valuable  service  as  chair 
man  of  the  Committees  on  Koads  and  Highways  and  Federal  Delations, 
and  as  a  member  of  the  Committees  on  Internal  Improvements,  Manufac 
tures,  and  Benevolent  and  Scientific  Institutions.  lie  is.  perhaps,  the  truest 
tj^pe  at  present  sitting  in  either  wing  of  the  Capital,  of  the  gentleman  of 
the  old  school.  A  native  of  the  Old  Dominion,  he  is,  despite  his  long  resi 
dence  in  tne  West,  still  essentially  Virginian  in  instinct  as  well  as  in  man 
ners. 


P.  MABREY, 

The  capable  member  from  Ripley,  is  a  native  of  Roekingham  county 
North  Carolina,  where  he  was  born  in  1815.  Shortly  after  his  birth  his 
family  removed  to  Tennessee,  where  the  remainder  of  his  youth  was  spent 
and  where  he  continued  to  reside  up  to  1838,  when  he  emigrated  to  Mis 
souri.  Almost  constantly  since  his  advent  in  this  State  he  lias  tilled  some 
position  of  honor  and  emolument.  Settling  first  at  Cape  Girardeau  he 
held  respectively  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace  and  deputy,  and  after 
wards  county  clerk  of  that  county.  Removing  to  the  count}'  of  Wayne 
he  was  elected  a  justice  of  the  peace  here,  also,  besides  acting  as  a 
district  assessor  and  deputy  circuit  and  county  court  clerk,  and  on  the  es 
tablishment  of  the  probate  and  county  court  of  that  county,  he  was  by  ap 
pointment  made  its  first  judge.  Settling  in  Stoddard  county  in  18GO,  he 
served  again  in  the  capacity  of  deputy  clerk  of  the  county  court,  and  in 
18GG  was  elected  judge  of  the  probate  court,  which  position  he  continued 
to  hold  up  to  the  following  spring,  W!KMI  he  was  ousted  upon  a  contest 
made  before  the  circuit  court  of  the  county.  Removing  to  Ripley  county 


64  PEN-PICTURES    OF    THE 

in  1868,  he  was,  after  a  residence  of  only  two  years  in  that  locality,  elected 
to  the  seat  he  at  present  occupies  in  the  House.  In  connection  with  his 
varied  official  duties,  he  has  at  various  times  followed  the  callings  of  mer 
chant,  miller  and  lumber  dealer,  in  the  latter  of  which  he  is  at  present  en 
gaged.  Politically,  Judge  Mabrey  is  a  Democrat  of  the  strictest  school, 
though  in  no  instance  has  he  permitted  mere  partisanship  to  interfere  with 
his  duties  as  a  legislator.  His  seat  in  the  House  is  seldom  vacant,  and  its 
occupant  is  an  attentive,  though  quiet  observer  of  all  that  transpires  dur 
ing  session  hours.  Of  affable  manners  and  the  most  generous  impulses, 
he  is  universally  popular  among  his  associates. 


THOMAS  B.  MCALLISTER. 

The  Representative  from  Scotland  county  was  born  in  the  county  of 
Campbell,  of  the  "Old  Dominion,"  in  1820.  His  father  and  family  removed 
to  Coshocton  county,  Ohio,  in  the  year  1830,  when  that  county  was  but 
sparsely  settled.  Here  the  present  Representative  received  the  greater 
part  of  his  education,  being  compelled  to  walk  four  or  five  miles  to  the 
nearest  school.  In  1839,  still  clinging  to  the  parental  fold,  he  moved  with 
his  family  to  central  Indiana,  where  he  lead  the  life  of  a  farmer  until  1851, 
when  he  left  his  home  and  settled  in  Scotland  county,  Missouri,  opening 
a  farm  upon  the  unbroken  prairie  near  Memphis,  the  present  county  seat. 
Here  he  continued  to  reside  tip  to  the  year  1861,  when  the  war  breaking 
out  he  entered  the  service,  and  continued  therein  up  to  the  fall  of  that  year, 
when  he  was  badly  wounded  in  a  fight  near  MenTphis,  and  being  disabled 
for  further  active  duty,  was  honorably  discharged.  In  the  fall  of  1870  he 
made  his  entree  into  political  life  as  the  Liberal  Republican  candidate  for 
the  lower  House  of  the  present  Assembly.  As  a  legislator,  he  has  been 
quiet  and  unostentatious,  but  not  the  less  faithful  and  capable.  While  firm 
and  consistent  in  his  political  opinions,  he  is  very  far  from  being  a  parti 
san,  and  both  by  his  votes  and  his  influence  has  evinced  a  manly  indepen 
dence  and  liberality.  He  has  served  as  a  member  of  the  Committee  on 
Accounts. 


M.  MCMILLAN, 

The  Representative  of  the  First  district  of  Cooper  county,  was  born  in 
Livingston  county,  New  \ork,  and  removed  to  Boonville,  this  State,  in 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  65 

the  year  1SG5.  During  a  residence  of  five  years  in  Boonville,  as  senior 
member  of  the  Jaw  linn  of  McMillan  Bros.,  he  acquired  such  a  wide 
spread  reputation  as  a  lending1  lawyer  that  he  was  chosen  to  repre 
sent  the.  -28th  district  in  the  State  Senate,  where  he  did  effective  service. 
lie  was  afterward  elected  without  opposition  to  represent  the  intelligent 
constituency  of  Cooper  in  the  lower  House  of  the  Twenty-sixth  Gem  nil 
Assembly.  A  positive  ilepublican  and  uncompromising  in  his  advocacy 
of  the  distinctive  principles  of  his  party,  his  course  in  the  House  has  been 
marked  with  honesty  of  purpose,  courtesy  towards  opponents,  and  a  lib 
erality  in  discussion  which  have  won  for  him  the  respect  of  his  opponents. 
His  arguments  are  ever  marked  by  close,  analytical  arrangement  and 
freedom  from  even  the  attempt  at  show.  Possessing  a  clear,  ringing  voice 
and  a  fine  command  of  language,  whenever  he  addresses  the  Chair  he 
commences,  without  prelude,  to  define  his  position  by  compact  reasoning, 
rather  than  by  appeals  to  prejudice  or  by  llights  of  oratory.  It  is  for  this 
reason  more,  perhaps,  than  by  his  conceded  record  as  an  honest  debater  of 
unimpeachable  moral  rectitude,  that  he  has  assumed  a  position  in  the  House 
not  excelled  by  that  of  any  of  his  party  colleagues.  On  every  important 
general  measure,  affecting  the  whole  people  of  the  State,  and  disconnected 
from  party  politics,  Mr.  McMillan  has  been  found  always  at  the  front,  lie 
lias  been  constantly  in  his  seat,  willing  and  ready  to  examine  into  all  the 
details  of  legislation,  freely  interchanging  his  views  with  those  who  dif 
fered  with  him,  and  cheerfully  submitting  to  the  will  of  the  majority. 


JAMES  McPIKE, 

The  venerable  member  from  the  Palmyra  district  of  Marion  county,  dif 
fers  quite  as  Miiich  from  his  younger  colleague.  Gen.  Shields,  in  personal 
characteristics  as  he  does  in  politics.  One  of  the  oldest,  he  has  the  further 
distinction  also  of  being  the  wealthiest  member  of  the  House.  But  al 
though  in  his  sixty-seventh  year,  he  is  still  active  and  energetic  in  the  dis 
charge  of  the  duties  imposed  upon  him.  and  is  seldom  absent  either  from 
his  seat  during  session  hours  or  from  the  committee  room  when  his  pre 
sence  and  services  are  required  there.  He  is  a  native  of  Kentucky,  from 
which  State  he  immigrated  to  Missouri  at  an  early  date  in  her  history. 
Though  frequently  elevated  to  official  position  by  his  immediate  constitu 
ency,  he  has  been  a  farmer  all  his  life.  Personally,  he  is  a  gentleman  of 
unimpeachable  integrity,  sound  practical  sense,  and  much  more  than  aver 
age  ability.  Though  he  never  makes  a  set  speech,  and  perhaps  could  not, 
were  he  to  try,  he  is  nevertheless  a  useful  and  valuable  member.  He  is  a 
true  representative  of  the  type  of  old  school  gentlemen  who  are  fast  pass 
ing  away.  His  county  could  easily  have  sent  a  gentleman  to  the  Capital 
5* 


66  PEN-PICTURES   OF   THE 

who  would  have  made  more  noise,  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  she  could 
have  sent  one  who  would  have  been  more  highly  respected  by  his  asso 
ciates,  or  have  applied  himself  more  faithfully  to  the  discharge  of  his 
duties. 


W.  N.  MILLEE, 

Representing  the  thoroughly  Republican  county  of  Douglas,  is  a  native  of 
East  Tennessee,  where  he  first  saw  the  light  April  10th,  1824.  When 
twenty  years  of  age  he  removed  to  Missouri,  settling  in  what  was  then 
Ozark,  but  is  now  Douglas  county,  where  he  has  since  continued  to  reside. 
He  has  followed  the  callings  of  farming  and  milling,  in  the  latter  of  which 
he  is  at  present  engaged.  Taking  strong  grounds  in  favor  of  the  Union 
on  the  outbreak  of  the  late  war,  he  entered  the  16th  regiment  of  Missouri 
volunteers,  and  served  as  a  lieutenant  in  that  command  up  to  the  restora 
tion  of  peace.  On  the  close  of  the  war,  or  shortly  thereafter,  he  was 
elected  treasurer  of  his  county,  which  office  he  continued  to  fill  up  to  1870, 
when  elected  to  the  seat  he  holds  in  the  popular  branch  of  the  present 
Assembly.  Politically,  Mr.  Miller  is  a  Republican  of  the  Radical  school. 
He  has,  as  a  Representative,  been  always  attentive  to  his  duties,  and  his 
vote  will  be  found  recorded  on  almost  every  roll  that  has  been  called  dur 
ing  the  session. 


JAMES  M.  MING, 

The  Representative  from  the  Eastern  district  of  Franklin,  was  born  May 
16th,  1824,  in  Campbell  county,  Virginia,  and  when  thirteen  years  of  age 
immigrated  with  his  parents  to  Franklin  county,  Missouri.  Here  he  as 
sisted  on  the  farm,  and  availed  himself  of  the  imperfect  advantages  to  be* 
had  in  a  common  country  school,  until  he  reached  his  sixteenth  year, 
when  he  obtained  a  situation  and  entered  a  store  at  Port  William  as  clerk, 
with  his  uncle,  the  late  William  North.  On  his  uncle's  removal  to  St. 
Louis,  Mr.  Ming  became  his  successor,  and  continued  the  business  for 
twenty  years.  During  eighteen  years  of  this  time  he  was  postmaster,  and 
it  is  no  slight  proof  of  his  close  personal  application  to  business,  to  say 
that  every  report  and  quarterly  return  to  the  department  at  Washington 
was  made  in  his  own  handwriting.  In  1864  he  went  on  a  trading  ex- 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  07 

pedition  to  Montana,  and  while  there  was  a  member  of  the  board  of  alder 
men  of  Virginia  City.  Returning1  to  Missouri,  lie  embarked  as  a  wholesale 
drv  goods  merchant  in  St.  Louis  in  the  house  of  Burrows,  House  &  Ming, 
from  which  lie  retired  in  1808,  since  whk'h  time  he  has  been  engaged  in 
fanning  and  stock-raising.  He  was  elected  to  the  General  Assembly  in 
1808,  and  again  in  1870  ;  the  lust  time  almost  unanimously.  His  integrity, 
steady  business  habits  and  excellent  social  qualities  make  him  a  great 
favorite  with  his  people;  though  it  is  but  justice  to  him  to  add  that  he  has 
never  sought  oth'ce.  Since  in  the  House  he  has  proven  himself  one  of  its 
most  efficient  members,  attending  strictly  to  all  his  duties,  and  although 
he  does  not  appear  as  a  speech-maker,  he  never  misses  a  point  of  legisla 
tion,  lie  is  a  most  worthy  representative  of  an  intelligent  people. 


Z.  J.  MITCIIKL1,, 

Representing  the  Lexington  district  of  Lafayette  county,  is  among  the 
younger  members  of  the  House,  a  native  of  Virginia,  and  in  his  bearing 
and  general  deportment  does  no  di-nvdit  to  the  gallant  Old  Dominion. 
Under  a,' 1  circumstances — and  a  number  of  sharp  encounters  have1  te>t'id 
him  severely — he  is  the  polished,  courteous  self-possessed  gentleman,  lie 
is  only  twenty-eight  years  of  age.  but  in  that  period  has  seen  probably 
more  of  the  world  than  even  the  oldest  of  his  associates.  After  a  partial 
completion  of  his  collegiate  course  in  his  native  State,  which  was  inter 
rupted  by  the  breaking  out  of  the  late  war,  he  repaired  to  Europe  and  re 
newed  his  studies  at  the  University  ^f  Edinburg,  from  which  ancient  and 
famous  institution  he  graduated  with  the  degree  of  Master  of  ArN  in  lsr>.~>. 
While  a  student  in  Scotland  he  spent  his  vacations  of  some  months  annu 
ally  in  Germany  and  France,  where  he  acquired  to  a  considerable  degree 
the  languages  of  these  countries,  besi.es  obtaining  an  insight  into  their 
social  customs  and  political  institutions.  Having  thus  add<-d  immen>ely 
to  his  stock  of  practical  and  scholastic  information,  as  well  as  having'  ac 
quired  much  of  that  ease  and  polish  of  manner  for  which  he  is  noted,  he 
returned  home,  and  shortly  thereafter  removed  to  Missouri  and  applied 
himself  to  the  study  of  the  law.  On  being  admitted  to  the  bar  he  at  once 
applied  himself  to  the  practice  of  his  profession,  in  which  he  is  at  present 
engaged  at  Lexington.  Representing,  as  he  does,  one  of  the  districts  of 
Lafayette,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  add  that  politically  Mr.  Mit<  hell  is  a 
Democrat.  His  course  at  the  Capital  has  fully  sustained  the  expectations 
of  his  friends.  He  has  taken  a  prominent  part  in  the  proceedings  of  the 
body  in  which  he  sits,  but  while  entertaining  positive  opinions  on  almost 
all  .-subjects,  and  very  frequently  expressing  them,  he  is  still  in  no  sense  <>f 
the  word  dogmatic.  As  a  speaker  he  is  ready,  fluent  and  continuous.  In 
the  distribution  of  the  committees  he  was  assigned  by  the  Speaker  to  the 
chairmanship  of  Banks  and  Corporations,  and  made  a  member  of  the 


68  PEN-PICTURES  OF  THE 

Committees  on  the  Judiciary,  Insurance  and  the  Lunatic  Asylum.  He  is 
also  a  member  of  the  special  committee  on  redistricting  the  State  into  judi 
cial  circuits.  He  dresses  in  excellent  good  taste,  is  about  five  feet  ten 
inches  in  hight,  of  light  complexion,  and  possesses  an  intelligent  and  en 
gaging  countenance. 


E.  S.  MOOEE, 

The  Representative  from  Livingston  county  in  the  Twenty-fifth  and  also 
in  the  Twenty-sixth  House,  is  a  native  of  New  York,  having  been  born  in 
Otsego  county,  that  State,  in  1831.  When  seven  years  of  age  he  removed 
to  the  West  with  his  parents,  locating  in  Indiana.  Here  he  followed  the 
life  of  a  farmer's  boy,  laboring  in  the  summer  and  attending  school  in  the 
winter,  until  he  had  reached  his  majority,  when  he  became  a  student  at 
Hanover,  and  afterwards  at  the  university  at  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan,  from 
which  latter  institution  he  graduated  with  honors  in  1858.  On  complet 
ing  his  studies,  he  applied  himself  to  school  teaching  in  connection  with 
the  study  of  the  law.  and  at  the  end  of  two  years  was  admitted  to  the  bar. 
Removing  then  to  Missouri,  and  locating  in  Chillicothe,  he  commenced 
toere  the  practice  of  his  profession.  Politically,  Mr.  Moore  was  a  Democrat 
of  the  old  Jefferson  school,  his  father  and  grandfather  having  been  of  the 
same  faith  before  him.  Espousing  Republicanism  in  1862,  he  was  in  the 
following  year  elected  by  that  party  mayor  of  Chillicothe,  and  subsequent 
ly  elected  to  the  popular  branch  of  the  Twenty-fifth  Assembly.  He  occu 
pies  his  present  seat  as  a  Liberal  of  strong  Democratic  proclivities,  having 
cast  his  vote  for  Gen.  Blair  for  the  Senate,  rather  than  affiliate  with  the 
friends  of  Mr.  Henderson  in  that  contest.  As  a  legislator,  he  is  among 
the  most  experienced  and  best  posted  in  the  body,  and,  though  at  all  times 
an  active  participant  in  the  proceedings,  is  seldom,  if  ever,  guilty  of  an  in 
fraction  of  the  rules.  He  has  been  a  capable  and  influential  member  of  the 
important  Committee  on  the  Judiciary,  and  has  served  besides  on  a  num 
ber  of  the  more  important  special  committees,  and  among  others  that  ap 
pointed  at  the  regular  session  to  investigate  the  s?le  of  the  State  bank  stock 
to  Capt.  James  B.  Eads.  Whatever  duties  have  been  imposed  upon  him  have 
been  promptly  and  conscientiously  performed.  In  the  more  unrestrained 
social  associations  at  the  Capital,  he  has  rendered  himself  a  most  agreeable 
companion,  and  is  universally  popular  among  his  friends. 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  69 

JAMES  M.  MOOEE, 

The  Representative  from  Stone  county,  is  a  North  Carolinian,  having:  been 
born  in  that  State  May  13th,  1811.  With  his  parents  he  removed  to 
Tennessee  in  1S1G,  and  came  to  Missouri  in  1829,  settling1  in  Lawrence, 
county,  where  he  resided  for  thirty-six  years.  In  1801  he  removed  to  Stone 
county,  where  he  has  continued  to  reside  since.  While  a  resident  of  Law 
rence  county  lie  attained  a  wide  popularity  as  an  enterprising  and  honora 
ble  citizen,  and  for  six  years  held  the  responsible  office  of  sheriff  also  serv 
ing1  that  constituency  in  the  General  Assembly.  After  his  removal  to 
Stone  county,  in  1801,  he  was  elected  county  court  justice,  in  which  posi 
tion  he  served  with  credit  and  distinction  to  himself  and  satisfaction  to 
those  who  honored  him.  In  1802  he  was  elected  captain  of  a  company  of 
Enrolled  Militia  of  Missouri,  and  served  in  that  capacity  for  fifteen  months, 
when  he  was  promoted  to  Major  in  the  Fifty-second  regiment,  lie  was 
afterward  detailed  for  duty  with  the  Fifteenth  Missouri  cavalry.  In  all 
these  positions  he  did  excellent  service,  and  bears  many  scars  as  relies  of 
sharp  encounters  on  the  battle  field.  Since  a  member  of  the  General  As 
sembly  he  has  ever  been  alive  to  the  interests  of  his  constituents,  whom 
he  serves  with  great  fidelity,  as  well  as  anility.  He  was  a  Democrat  up  to 
the  time  of  the  war,  but  is  now  a  Radical  Republican,  and  announces  his 
intention  of  so  continuing-.  • 


N.  A.  MORTKLL, 

Representing  the  Tenth  district  of  St.  Louis,  was  born  in  the  county  of 
Cork,  Ireland,  in  the  year  1843,  and  is  notable  as^the  only  native  of  the 
Emerald  Isle  occupying  a  seat  in  the  present  Democratic  House.  When 
only  nine  years  of  age  he  crossed  the  waters  to  seek  his  fortune  in  the 
New  World,  and  on  landing  at  New  York,  adopted  and  followed  for  (hive 
years  the  precarious  lite  of  a  newsboy  in  that  city.  Having  accumulated  a 
few  dollars  in  this  calling,  he  set  out  in  1855  for  the  West,  and  located  in 
Alton,  Illinois,  where  he  applied  himself  to  learning  the  trade  of  a  copper 
smith.  While  engaged  in  this  avocation,  he  attracted  the  attention  of  ( 'ol. 
Geo.  B.  Ingersoll,  of  Shipman,  Illinois,  by  whom  he  was  kindly  taken 
from  his  uncongenial  labor  and  sent  to  St.  Paul's  College,  at  Palmyra,  Mis 
souri,  in  which  institution  he  acquired  a  thorough  classical  education. 
Having  completed  his  studies,  he  took  charge  of  the  Cathedral  school  at 
Alton,  and  after  a  short  term  of  service  in  this  institution,  removed  to  St. 
Louis  and  commenced  the  study  of  the  law  in  the  oflica  of  Judge  Krnm  of 
that  city.  Since  the  completion  of  his  legal  studies  and  his  admission  to 
the.  bar,  he  has  been  actively  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession. 
Having  received  in  1870  the  Democratic  nomination  for  Representative  of 


70  PEN-PICTURES    OF   THE 

his  district  in  the  popular  branch  of  the  present  Assembly,  he  was  elected 
by  a  highly  complimentary  majority,  and  in  the  spring-  of  1871  received  as 
further  mark  of  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  his  party  the  nomination  for 
city  attorney  of  St.  Louis,  to  which  he  was  also  elected  by  a  handsome  ma 
jority.  Though  aided  in  the  acquirement  of  his  education  by  his  generous 
patron,  Col.  Ingersoll,  Mr.  Mortell  is  nevertheless,  in  a  large  measure,  a  self- 
made  man,  and  the  success  he  has  achieved,  both  politically  and  profes 
sionally,  is  mainly  due  to  his  own  exertions  and  honesty  of  purpose. 
As  a  speaker,  he  is  fluent  and  logical,  and  since  a  member  of  the  House, 
he  has  engaged  freely  in  the  discussions  in  that  body.  He  has  also  done 
valuable  service  as  a  member  of  the  important  Committees  on  Banks  and 
Corporations,  the  Judiciary,  and  the  special  committees  of  the  St.  Louis 
Delegation. 


,H.  G.    MULLI]NTGS, 

One  of  the  best  informed,  as  he  is  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  experienced 
members  of  the  House,  is  the  gentleman  whose  name  appears  above,  and 
who,  with  Mr.  Langston,  represents  the  populous  and  intelligent  county 
of  Greene.  A  member  of  the  Twenty-fourth,  Twenty-fifth,  and  now  of 
the  Twenty-sixth  Assembly,  Mr.  Mullings  is  thoroughly  up  in  the  busi 
ness  of  the  House,  and  may  be  said  to  have  Jefferson's  Manual  fairly  at  his 
finger's  ends.  Lt  would  be  difficult  for  the  shrewdest  to  spring  a  parlia 
mentary  trap  that  would  ensnare  him,  or  get  the  House  into  a  parliamen 
tary  snarl  too  intricate  for  his  powers  of  extraction.  A  point  of  order  is 
his  ambition  and  "strongest  hold."  In  view  of  this  special  qualification, 
he  was  by  far  the  fittest  person  that  the  Republican  side  of  the  chamber 
could  have  put  forward  for  the  Speakership  at  the  inception  of  the  session, 
and  if  elected  he  would  doubtless  have  filled  the  position  with  credit  and 
satisfaction.  As  it  is,  he  has  done  excellent  service  on  the  floor,  and  as 
the  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Education,  in  which  latter  capacity  his 
time  has  been  largely  applied  with  his  associates  to  a  revision  of  the  pres 
ent  defective  school  law.  Mr.  Mullings  is  a  native  Missourinn,  and  from 
boyhood  has  been  a  resident  of  the  Southwest  portion  of  the  State,  the  pe 
culiar  interests  of  which  he  fully  comprehends.  In  the  late  unpleasantness 
in  the  Republican  household  he  went  off  with  the  bolters,  though  he  has 
since  resumed  his  relations  to  the  party.  Mr.  Mullings  is  a  ready,  and 
generally  fluent  debater,  and  is  frequently  on  the  floor.  Of  a  figure  above 
the  average  hight,  he  commands  attention  when  he  first  rises,  and  gener 
ally  manages  to  retain  it  by  what  he  says.  He  may  be  readily  recognized 
by  a  heavy  growth  of  sandy  beard,  a  slight  stoop  of  the  shoulders  and  an 
air  of  ease,  and,  in  a  measure,  of  assurance  which  never  forsakes  him. 


TWENTY-SIXTH   GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  71 

P.  W.  MURPHY. 

Judge  Murphy,  as  he  is  addressed  by  his  friends,  who  represents  in 
the  House  the  great  mineral  county  of  St.  Francois,  is  a  native  of  the  Old 
Dominion,  having  been  born  in  Culpepper  county  on  the  24th  of  Decem 
ber,  1820.  After  receiving  a  thorough  education  in  the  schools  of  his  na 
tive  State,  he  set  out  to  seek  his  fortune  in  the  West,  and  in  1844  located 
in  Missouri,  where  he  has  since  constantly  resided.  The  first  ten  years  of 
his  residence  in  his  new  home  was  devoted  to  school  teaching.  At  the 
close  of  this  period  taking  a  contract  for  grading  a  portion  of  the  Iron 
Mountain  railroad,  he  became  identified  with  that  important  enterprise,  to 
which  he  devoted  his  attention  for  several  years.  Subsequently  to  this  he 
divided  his  time  between  farming  and  mining  up  to  1800,  when  he  was 
elected  to  the  office  of  assessor  of  taxes  for  St.  Francois  county.  This 
position  he  held  up  to  1870,  in  the  fall  of  which  year  he  was  chosen  to 
represent  his  county  in  the  popular  branch  of  the  present  Assembly. 
Since  his  arrival  at  the  Capital  few  gentlemen  have  more  fully  succeeded 
in  securing  and  retaining  the  regard  and  confidence  of  their  associate:*,  or 
proven  themselves  more  watchful  guardians  of  the  interests  of  their  con 
stituency.  Though  [  believe  he  has  never  inflicted  upon  the  House  ;i  set 
speech,  he  is  frequently  upon  the  floor,  and  is  alwa)*s  listened  to  with  at 
tention  and  respect.  Politically,  Judge  Murphy  is  a  Democrat  of  the  most 
uncompromising  stripe.  He  is  a  member  of  the  important  Committee  on 
Agriculture,  in  which  capacity  he  has  done  excellent  service,  and  also  a 
member  of  the  Committees  on  Retrenchment  and  Reform  and  on  Fees  and 
Salaries. 


SAMUEL  F.  MURRAY, 

Representing  the  Western  district  of  the  populous  county  of  Pike,  is  a 
native  of  Loudoun  county,  Virginia,  and  titty-six  years  cf  age.  In  1840 
he  left  home  to  seek  his  fortune  in  the  Wust,  and  located  at  Troy,  in  Lin 
coln  county,  of  this  State.  During  the  last  two  years  of  his  residence  in 
the  Old  Dominion,  and  the  first  three  years  in  his  new  home,  he  was  en 
gaged  in  school  teaching,  and  among  his  pupils  were  a  number  of  o-eutle- 
men  who  have  since  attained  the  greatest  prominence,  in  their  respective 
States.  At  the  close  of  his  career  as  a  teacher  he  immediately  commenced 
the  study  of  the  law,  and  in  the  year  1S45  first  commenced  its  practice  in 
the  county  of  Lincoln.  In  the  same  year  he  also  purchased  the  Demo 
cratic  paper  of  Pike  county,  and  in  the  year  1840  removed  with  it  to  the 
city  of  Louisiana,  in  that  county.  In  the  year  1SJ7  he  was  elected  clerk 
of  the  county  court  of  Pike  county,  and  continued  to  edit  and  publish  his 
paper  for  some  live  years  thereafter,  as  well  as  to  -discharge  the  duties  of 
his  office  as  clerk.  As  an  editor,  he  was  always  bold  and  fearless,  and 


72  PEN-PICTURES    OP   THE 

was  a  pioneer  in  the  advocacy  of  the  election  of  our  Congressmen  by  dis 
tricts,  and  of  the  State  officers  and  Judges  by  the  people.  Before  the  ex 
piration  of  the  second  term  of  his  clerkship  he  was  elected  judge  of  probate 
to  till  the  vacancy  in  that  office  occasioned  by  the  death  of  Judge  Finley. 
He  was  re-elected  in  the  year  1859,  and  filled  the  office  till  the  close  of  the 
year  1802.  He  acted  also  for  a  time  as  county  commissioner  and  county 
superintendent  of  common  schools.  In  1845  he  was  solicited  by  his  dem 
ocratic  friends  of  Lincoln  and  St.  Charles  counties  in  caucus  to  submit  his 
name  for  a  nomination  as  a  candidate  for  the  Convention  to  make  a  new 
Constitution  for  the  State,  but  declined.  Though  always  ardent  in  sup 
port  of  political  principles,  he  never  could  be  induced  to  run  for  political 
office  till  the  year  1870,  when  on  the  morning  of  the  Democratic  Conven 
tion  he  first  consented  to  the  use  of  his  name  for  a  nomination  for  the 
office  of  Representative  in  the  present  House  for  the  purpose  of  advocating 
a  local  measure  in  which  he  felt  great  interest.  During  the  time  he  held 
these  county  offices  he  also  practiced  law  as  far  as  he  could  without  inter 
fering  with  the  discharge  of  his  duties.  Before  the  organization  of  the 
House  he  was  prominently  spoken  of  as  Speaker  of  that  body,  but  owing 
to  feeble  health  declined  to  submit  his  name  to  the  Democratic  caucus. 
No  member  has  been  more  assiduous  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties,  and 
besides  his  services  on  the  floor,  he  has  acted  as  chairman  of  the  important 
Committee  on  Criminal  Jurisprudence. 


A.  W.  MYERS. 

No  county  of  the  State  is  better  represented  in  th.e  present  House  than 
the  intelligent  and  populous  county  of  Linn,  in  the  person  of  the  clear 
headed,  hard-working  and  practical  member  whose  name  occurs  at  the 
head  of  this  sketch.  Mr.  Myers  is  a  native  of  Ohio,  having  been  born  in 
Jefferson  county,  in  that  State,  July  2d,  1824.  In  1851  having  completed 
his  education  and  prepared  himself  for  the  practice  of  the  law,  he  removed 
to  the  neighboring  State  of  Indiana,  and  locating  in  Whitlej1"  county  com 
menced  the  practice  of  that  profession,  which  he  continued  to  follow  up 
to  1804,  when  he  decided  to  change  his  residence,  and  with  that  view,  left 
home  on  a  prospecting  tour.  In  the  following  year  after  having  visited 
several  of  the  Western  States,  he  located  at  his  present  home  in  Missouri, 
where  he  resumed  the  practice  of  the  law,  and  continued  to  apply  himself 
to  that  profession  up  to  1870,  since  which  time  he  has  been  successfully 
engaged  in  mining  and  manufacturing.  In  the  same  year  he  accepted  the 
nomination  which  resulted  in  his  election  to  a  seat  in  the  popular  branch 
of  the  present  Assembly.  On  the  organization  of  the  House,  his  superior 
abilities  were  recognized  by  Speaker  Wilson,  and  he  was  a«signed  a  place 
on  the  important  Committees  on  Internal  Improvements,  Insurance,  Mines 
and  Mining,  of  which  he  has  been  an  active  and  serviceable  member,  and 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL    ASSEMBLY.  73 

over  wlio.se  deliberations  he  has  exercised  a  positive  influence.  He  has 
also  served  as  a  member  of  the  special  committees  on  probate  and  common 
pleas  courts,  and  the  investigation  of  the  military  claims  of  the  State. 
Though  seldom  on  tlie  floor  he  is  by  no  means  without  opinions  or  the 
ability  to  express  them  and  on  questions  of  a  practical  character,  he  is  free 
ly  and  frequently  consulted  by  his  younger  associates.  Politically,  Mr.  My 
ers  is  a  zealous  and  consistent  Democrat. 


THOMAS  D.  NEAL, 

The  member  from  Harrison,  is  a  native  of  Kentucky,  having  been  born  in 
Franklin  count}',  of  that  State,  in  1S40.  In  18.~>0,  being  then  a  lad  ol  only 
sixteen  years,  he  immigrated  to  Missouri,  settling  first  in  Daviess  and  sub 
sequently  in  Gentry  county.  The  only  education  he  ever  received  was 
such  as  he  could  obtain  in  the  private  schools  of  his  native  State,  as  no  free 
school  system  existed  in  Kentucky  at  that  day.  In  politics,  Mr.  Xeal  has 
been  a  /ealous  Republican  ever  since  the  first  organization  of  that  party, 
and  although  surrounded  in  his  new  home  by  those  who  differed  most 
widely  with  him  in  political  sentiment,  was  even  before  the  war  a  tearless 
and  outspoken  advocate  of  free-soilism.  During  the  years  1859  and  1800  he 
was  a  frequent  contributor  to  the  columns  of  the  Missouri  Dmnic.rut  and 
St.  Joseph  Free  Democrat,  and  for  his  articles  in  the  last  named  journal 
especially  aroused  a  sentiment  of  hostility  against  him,  which  ultimately 
compelled  him  to  leave  his  adopted  county.  On  forsaking  Gentry,  he  re 
moved  to  Harrison  county,  where  he  engaged  in  school  teaching  and  con 
tinued  to  follow  that  calling  up  to  the  outbreak  of  the  late  war,  when  at 
the  first  call  for  troops  he  entered  the  service  and  continued  therein  up  to 
the  doso  of  hostilities.  He  wa>  in  numerous  actions  with  his  command 
in  Mis-ouri,  Arkansas  and  Georgia,  and  in  one  engagement  in  Boom; 
county,  in  this  State,  was  severely  wounded.  On  being  mustered  out  of 
the  service  in  September,  1805,  he  renewed  his  residence  in  Harrison 
county  and  established  the  North  Missouri  Tribune,  a  1'adical  Republican 
newspaper,  at  Bethany,  in  that  county,  which  he  has  since  continued  to 
publish.  In  connection  with  his  journalistic  duties  he  also  commenced 
the  study  of  the  law,  and  in  1808  was  admitted  to  the  practice  of  that  pro 
fession.  He  has  filled  various  civil  ollices,  commencing  with  a  seat  in  the 
board  of  aldermen  in  Bethany  in  1800.  In  1809  he  was  elected  probate 
judge  of  Harrison  county,  in  1808,  elected  a  member  of  the  House  in  the 
Twenty-fifth  Assembly,  and  in  1870  re-elected  to  the  seat  which  he  at 
present  occupies.  Since  at  the  Capital  he  has,  besides  his  labors  during 
session  hours,  served  as  a  member  of  the  Committees  on  Banks  and  Cor 
porations  and  the  Penitentiary.  Possessing  a  large  fund  of  information, 
and  being  a  ready  and  easy  speaker,  he  has  participated  freely  in  the  de 
bates  of  the  session,  while  with  an  occasional  flash  of  wit  he  has  repeat- 


74  PEN-PICTURES    OF   THE 

eclly  provoked  the  House  as  well  as  the  lobby  to  laughter.  In  this  man 
ner  he  lias  not  unfrequently  carried  a  point  when  the  soundest  reasoning 
would  have  failed. 


A.  G.  NEWMAN. 

Judge  Newman,  who.  with  his  junior  in  'years,  Mr.  Bass,  represents 
the  old  and  populous  county  of  Boone,  was  born  in  Augusta  county, 
Virginia,  November  4th,  1808.  After  spending  his  youth  and  earlier  man 
hood  in  his  native  State,  he  removed  in  1834  to  Tennessee  locating  in  the 
town  of  Greenville,  where  he  continued  to  reside  up  to  1837.  During  his 
residence  here  he  became  the  intimate  personal  and  political  friend  of  ex- 
President  Johnson,  at  that  period  in  the  eventful  life  of  the  latter,  when  he 
was  about  placing  his  foot  on  the  first  round  of  the  official  ladder  to  the 
top  of  which  he  eventually  ascended.  In  1837,  leaving  Tennessee  he  made 
a  brief  sojourn  in  the  neighboring  State  of  Alabama,  and  subsequently  re 
moved  to  Missouri  settling  in  Claj'  county,  and  after  a  residence  of  two 
years  in  that  locality  removing  to  Boone  county,  where  he  has  since  con 
tinued  to  make  his  home.  Though  his  present  occupation  is  that  of  a 
practical  tinner,  he  has  at  different  times  followed  various  avocations,  and 
made  and  lost  several  fortunes.  Though  always  taking  a  lively  interest 
in  public  affairs,  and  an  active  politician,  since  attaining  his  majority,  the 
only  office  he  has  ever  held  at  the  hands  of  his  party  or  his  people  is  that 
which  he  at  present  holds  as  a  member  of  the  Twenty-sixth  Assembly. 
His  legislative  record  has  been  characterized  by  a  faithful  discharge  of  the 
duties  imposed  on  him,  either  during  session  hours  or  in  the  committee 
room,  and  an  especial  regard  for  the  interests  and  requirements  of  his  own 
county.  Politically,  he  is  a  life-long  Democrat. 


W.  H.  NOERIS. 

One  of  the  oldest  and  most  experienced  members  of  the  present  House 
is  the  worthy  member  from  Ozark  county.  The  acceptable  manner  in 
which  he  has  served  his  constituency  has  kept  him  at  the  Capital  as  the 
guardian  of  their  interests  for  a  long  term  of  years.  Mr.  Norris  is  thirty- 
six  years  of  age,  and  a  native  of  Kentucky,  though  a  resident  of  Missouri 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  75 

since  boyhood.  By  culling,  he  is  a  farmer,  and  politically,  a  Republican. 
In  addition  to  his  constant  participation  in  the  business  of  the  House,  he 
has  served  faithfully  as  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  the  Blind  Asylum. 


G.  W.  O'BANXAN, 

Representing1  the  county  of  Dallas,  was  born  in  that  county,  January  loth, 
1842,  and  raised  on  a  farm.  Entering  the  service  immediately  on  the  out 
break  of  the  late  war  he  continued  therein  up  to  the  restoration  of  peace, 
serving  with  the  rank  of  lieutenant.  In  1806  he  was  appointed  postmas 
ter  of  the  town  of  Buffalo,  in  his  native  county,  and  held  that  office  about 
one  year,  and  in  1870  was  elected  to  a  seat  in  the  lower  House  of  the 
Twenty-sixth  Assembly.  Politically,  Mr.  O'Bannan  is  a  Republican,  and 
by  calling  a  merchant,  lie  has  been  a  quiet  but  nevertheless  attentive 
and  serviceable  member  of  the  body  in  which  he  sits,  and  votes  with  good 
judgment  and  a  conscientious  regard  lor  the  interests  of  his  constituency, 
lie  has  been  a  serviceable  member  of  the  Committee  on  Militia. 


A.  O'BANXOX, 

The  worthy  member  from  Petris,  is  fifty-live  years  of  age,  and  is  also  a 
native  and  life-long  resident  of  Missouri,  with  whose  interests  and  the  de 
mands  of  whose  people  he  is  thoroughly  acquainted.  Few  gentlemen 
enjoy  to  a  greater  degree  personal  popularity  among  their  constituency, 
and  few,  by  the  probity  and  rectitude  of  their  lives,  are  more  deserving  of 
the  good  opinions  of  their  associates.  A  farmer  by  calling,  and  without 
political  or  official  aspirations,  he  has  nevertheless  been  frequently  honored 
with  preferment  to  places  of  public  trust.  After  serving  acceptably  as  a 
justice  of  the  county  court  of  Pettis,  lie  received  in  187U  the  nomination 
which  resulted  in  his  election  to  a  seat  in  the  present  House  by  a  highly 
complimentary  majority.  Politically,  Mr.  O'Bannon  is  a  Republican  of 
the  liberal  school,  and  as  such  was  generally  supported  by  the  Democracy 
of  his  county.  Since  at  the  Capital  he  has  seldom  been  out  of  his  seat  on 
any  account,  except  sickness,  and  has  faithfully  and  conscientiously  ap 
plied  himself  to  the  discharge  of  all  the  duties  devolving  upon  him.  He 
has  served  as  a  member  of  several  important  committees. 


76  PEN-PICTURES   OF   THE 

P.  J.  PAULEY, 

The  popular  and  capable  member  from  the  First  representative  district  of 
St.  Louis,  is  a  native  of  Prussia,  and  first  saw  the  light  May  23d,  1832.  In. 
his  fourteenth  year  his  parents  immigrated  to  the  United  States,  and  lo 
cated  in  St.  Louis,  where  the  present  Representative  has  ever  since  made 
his  home.  Adopting  in  early  life  the  calling  of  a  machinist,  he  has  con 
tinued  to  follow  that  avocation,  and  is  at  present  at  the  head  of  one  of  the 
largest  iron  establishments  of  St.  Louis.  While  giving  the  closest  atten 
tion  to  his  private  affairs,  however,  he  has  always  taken  a  deep  interest 
and  active  part  in  local  and  State  politics,  and  has  for  a  number  of  years 
been  an  efficient  and  influential  member  of  both  the  State  and  County  Cen 
tral  Democratic  committees.  Of  the  former  he  has  been  a  member  since 
18G3,  and  with  his  associates  co-operated  in  bringing  about  the  important 
political  revolution,  which  resulted  in  the  reinstatement  of  the  disfran 
chised  classes  in  1870.  But  while  devoting  his  efforts,  and  much  of  his 
time,  to  the  advancement  of  his  party,  he  has  neither  sought  or  held  any 
office  within  its  gift,  prior  to  his  seat  in  the  popular  branch  of  the  present 
Assembly.  His  course,  since  at  the  Capital,  has  been  marked  by  a  consci- 
encious  regard  for  the  public  welfare,  and  especially,  the  interests  of  his 
immediate  constituency.  Though  seldom  occupying  the  floor,  he  gener 
ally  entertains  positive  opinions,  and  votes  on  all  questions  with  good 
judgment.  He  has  served  as  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Manufactures 
and  as  a  member  of  the  special  committee  of  the  St.  Louis  Delegation. 


W.  S.  POPE. 

Maj.  Pope,  who  represents  the  Fourth  district  of  St.  Louis  in  the  pre 
sent  House,  is  a  native  of  Kentucky,  having  been  born  in  Christian 
county,  in  that  State,  in  1829.  When  a  lad  he  removed  with  his  parents 
to  Illinois,  where  he  was  placed  at  work  on  a  farm,  a  calling  he  continued 
to  follow  until  by  his  own  unaided  efforts  he  had  acquired  education  suf 
ficient  to  enable  him  to  teach  school.  After  teaching  for  two  years,  and 
in  the  meantime  continuing  his  own  studies  he  entered  upon  a  collegiate 
course,  and  finally  perfected  his  education  in  the  classical  and  scientific 
branches,  besides  mastering  several  of  the  modern  languages.  Shortly 
after  graduating  he  was  elected  a  professor  in  Rock  River  Seminary,  one 
of  the  oldest  schools  in  Northern  Illinois,  and  for  six  years  was  a  teacher 
of  mathematics  and  the  German  language  in  that  institution.  While  in 
the  discharge  of  these  duties  he  also  gave  a  portion  of  his  time  to  the  study 
of  the  law,  and  on  abandoning  his  chair  as  a  professor  was  admitted  to  the 
practice.  On  the  outbreak  of  the  late  war,  which  occurred  shortly  after 
his  being  admitted  to  the  bar,  he  was  called  to  the  State  Capital  and  ap 
pointed  by  Gov.  Yates  as  an  aid  on  the  staff  of  that  official.  After  a  short 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  77 

service  in  this  capacity  he  was  appointed  a  paymaster  in  the  army,  and  in 
the  hitter  office  served  to  the  close  of  the  war.  On  the  restoration  of 
peace  he  removed  to  St.  Louis,  where  he  has  since  been  successfully  en 
gaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession.  Accepting  in  1870  the  nomination 
of  the  Liberal  Republicans  of  his  district  for  Representative,  he  was 
elected  by  a  complimentary  majority  to  the  seat  he  holds  in  the  popular 
branch  of  the  present  Assembly.  A  ready  and  continuous  speaker,  and 
possessing  a  fund  of  information  on  almost  every  subject  of  legislation,  he 
has  engaged  frequently  in  the  debates  of  the  session  and  aided  greatly  in 
perfecting  various  measures  during  their  consideration  by  the  House.  In 
addition  to  his  labors  during  session  hours  he  has  also  done  valuable  ser 
vice  as  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Benevolent  and  Scientific  Institu 
tions,  and  as  a  member  of  tiie  Committee  on  Education. 


WILLIAM  TRICE. 

Xo  county  has  had  greater  difficulty  in  securing  representation  in  the 
present  House,  or  is  finally  better  represented,  than  the  good  county  of 
Newton.  Mr.  Price,  who  by  a  second  special  election  occupies  the  seat 
rendered  vacant  early  in  the  regular  session  by  the  death  of  Gen.  lieeman. 
is  a  native  of  Tennessee,  having  first  seen  the  light  in  Williamson  count}', 
of  that  State,  February  22d,  IS'51.  At  an  early  age,  however,  his  family 
removed  to  Weakley  county,  in  the  same  State,  where  his  youth  was  spent, 
and  where  he  continued  to  reside  up  to  1853,  when  he  immigrated  to  Mis 
souri,  and  settled  in  Newton  count}',  his  present  home.  Since  in  Missouri 
lie  has  followed  the  calling  of  a  merchant,  leading  a  quiet  and  unpreten 
tious  life,  though  at  nil  times  taking  a  lively  interest  in  public  affairs,  and 
entertaining  strong  political  convictions.  In  1854  he  was  appointed  to  the 
responsible  position  of  treasurer  of  his  adopted  county,  which  he  con 
tinued  to  hold,  however,  for  a  short  time  only,  and  this  with  the  seat  he  at 
present  occupies  in  the  House  are  the  only  public  offices  which  he  has 
ever  filled,  or  to  which,  I  believe,  he  has  ever  aspired.  As  a  Representa 
tive  he  has  been  attentive  to  the  business  of  the  body,  faithful  in  the  dis 
charge  of  all  duties  immediately  devolving  upon  him,  and  has  made  a 
record  which  cannot  fail  to  receive  the  indorsement  of  his  constituency 
irrespective  of  party.  Coming  into  the  House  after  the  organization,  the 
only  committee  to  which  he  lias  been  assigned  has  been  that  of  Fees  and 
Salaries,  of  which  he  has  proven  a  valuable  member.  Politically,  Mr 
Price  is  a  Democrat. 


78  PEN-PICTURES    OF   THE 


J.  P.  EANEY, 

In  whom  the  county  of  Wright  has  found  a  capable  and  conscientious 
Representative  in  the  popular  branch  of  the  present  Assembly,  is  a  native 
of  Kentucky,  and  thirty-nine  years  of  age.  After  spending  his  youth  in 
his  native  State,  he  immigrated  to  Missouri  and  located  in  Dade  county. 
At  the  outbreak  of  the  late  war  he  entered  the  service  and  continued 
therein  up  to  the  cessation  of  hostilities,  serving  gallantly  with  the  rank 
of  lieutenant.  On  the  restoration  of  peace  he  returned  to  Missouri  and 
located  in  Barry  county,  where,  in  1866,  he  was  elected  to  the  office  of 
sheriff  of  the  county,  which  position  he  held  for  two  years.  In  1808  he 
removed  to  Wright  county,  where  he  has  since  resided,  and  with  whose 
interests  he  has  become  thoroughly  acquainted  and  identified.  A  Demo 
crat  up  to  the  outbreak  of  the  late  war,  he  acted  with  the  Republican  party 
until  1870,  when  he  gave  in  his  adhesion  to  the  Liberal  cause,  and  as  the 
nominee  of  that  party  was  elected  to  his  present  seat  in  the  House.  Since 
at  the  Capital  his  course  has  been  marked  by  close  attention  to  the  busi 
ness  of  the  body,  liberality  of  political  sentiment  and  geniality  of  manners 
that  have  rendered  him  universally  popular  among  his  associates. 


WILLIAM  RATOALL, 

Representing  the  Second  district  of  Buchanan  county,  was  born  in  the 
State  of  New  York,  in  the  year  1833.  He  came  to  Missouri  at  an  early  age, 
and  has  ever  since  been  engaged  in  the  occupation  of  farming.  During  the 
late  war  he  was  a  captain  of  Militia  in  the  State  service,  and  in  the  fall  of 
1870  was  nominated  for  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives  by  the 
Liberal  Republicans  of  his  district.  The  Democrats  made  no  opposition, 
and  he  was  elected  by  a  handsome  majority  over  his  opponent— an  ex 
treme  Radical.  Captain  Randall  being  one  of  the  wealthiest  farmers  of  his 
section  of  country,  has  long  been  recognized  as  a  gentleman  of  influence, 
and  is  universally  regarded  as  a  man  of  the  strictest  integrity.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Committee  on  Roads  and  Highways,  and  has  taken  great 
interest  in  all  matters  relating  to  the  welfare  of  the  agricultural  commu 
nity. 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  79 

WILLIAM  EAY. 

Captain  Kay,  on  whom  it  has  twice  devolved  to  represent  the  county 
of  Barry  in  the  popular  branch  of  the  Legislature,  was  born  in  Granger 
county,  Tennessee,  November  14th,  1834,  and  a  resident  of  that  State  up 
to  1858,  when  he  removed  to  Missouri  and  located  in  Barry  county,  where 
he  has  since  continued  to  make  his  home.  Taking  a  positive  position  in 
favor  of  the  Union  at  the  inception  of  the  late  war  between  the  States,  he 
entered  the  service  and  continued  therein  as  a  captain  in  the  15th  Missouri 
regiment  up  to  the  close  of  hostilities.  In  1803,  while  still  holding  his 
military  commission,  he  was  elected  sheriff  of  his  adopted  county,  and 
discharged  the  responsible  duties  of  that  office  for  two  years,  and  at  the 
expiration  of  his  sheriffalty  was  elected  a  member  of  the  lower  branch  of 
the  Twenty-third  Assembly.  While  holding  his  seat  in  that  body  he  also 
continued  to  hold  his  commission  in  the  army,  and  when  not  engaged  at 
the  Capital,  was  in  active  service  with  his  regiment  in  the  field.  On  being 
mustered  out  of  the  service  in  July,  1805,  he  returned  to  his  civil  pursuits — 
farming  and  stock  raising— in  his  adopted  county,  to  which  he  continued 
to  give  his  undivided  attention  up  to  1870,  when  he  again  entered  the 
political  arena  and  was  elected  to  his  present  seat  in  the  House.  An  ex 
perienced  legislator,  and  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  rules,  he  has  taken 
an  intelligent,  though  quiet  and  unobtrusive  part  in  the  proceedings  of  the 
body.  lie  has  also  served  elliciently  as  a  member  of  the  Committee  on 
Militia.  Politically,  Capt.  Kay  is  a  life-long  Democrat,  and  will  lose  no 
fair  opportunity  to  strengthen  his  party  in  the  State,  though  never  per 
mitting  mere  partisanship  to  interfere  with  his  duties  as  a  legislator. 


ALLEN  P.  11ICHAKDSOX, 

Representing  the  Second  district  of  the  populous  county  of  Franklin,  was 
born  in  Lawrenceburg,  Anderson  county,  Kentucky,  November  10th,  1822, 
and  immigrated  to  Missouri  with  his  parents  in  1830,  settling  in  Kav 
county,  where  he  continued  to  reside  until  twenty-four  years  of  age.  His 
parents  were  both  natives  of  Kentucky,  and  his  father,  Capt.  John  C. 
Richardson,  a  soldier  of  the  war  of  1812,  and  distinguished  himself  in 
many  of  the  engagements  that  decided  the  issue  of  that  struggle  in  favor 
of  American  arms.  The  education  of  Mr.  Richardson  was  completed  at 
Boone  Femme  College,  in  Boone  county,  of  this  State,  in  1844.  In  1840  he 
was  married  in  Kay  county  to  Miss  Fannie,  eldest  daughter  of  ex-Gover 
nor  Austin  A.  King,  and  in  1849  was  appointed  Register  of  State  Lands 
under  the  administration  of  that  gentleman.  He  thus  came  into  public 
life  at  the  early  age  of  twenty-four,  and  amid  the  exciting  discussions 
growing  out  of  the  passage  of  the  celebrated  Jackson  resolutions  from 


80  PEN-PICTURES    OF   THE 

which  the  great  Senator  Col.  Benton  took  his  appeal,  but  notwithstanding 
his  youth,  he  assumed  a  prompt,  decided  and  prominent  position  against 
the  resolutions  under  the  leadership  of  Senator  Benton,  and  by  this  course 
won  many  warm  political  friends  in  the  spirited  contest  of  that  period.  In 
1852  he  was  nominated  on  the  Democratic  State  ticket,  of  which  Gen.  Ster 
ling  Price  was  the  head,  and  elected  to  till  for  a  second  term  the  office  of 
Register  of  Lands.  In  1S5G  lie  was  renominated  also  for  the  same  office 
on  what  was  known,  at  that  time,  as  the  Benton  ticket,  but  after  a  vigor 
ous  canvass  was  in  this  instance  defeated,  there  being  three  tickets  in  the 
field.  Taking  a  positive  stand  in  favor  of  the  unity  of  the  States  on  the 
outbreak  of  the  late  war,  he  organized  and  assumed  command  of  a  regi 
ment  of  ninety  clays'  men,  and  at  the  expiration  of  his  term  of  service,  he 
was  appointed  by  Gov.  Gamble,  State  Paymaster,  with  the  rank  of  captain. 
Having  tilled  this  office  for  about  one  year,  he  was  in  1862  elected  to  the 
State  Senate  from  the  Jefferson  City  district,  and  as  a  member  of  that  body 
distinguished  himself  by  his  opposition  to  the  calling  of  a  Constitutional 
Convention,  looking  to  the  immediate  emancipation  of  slavery  in  the  State 
and  the  overthrow  of  the  provisional  government.  In  1SG5  he  made  a 
vigorous  canvass  of  the  central  portion  of  the  State  against  the  adoption 
of  the  Constitution  which  was  in  that  year  submitted  to  the  people,  and  in 
the  following  year  ran  again  for  the  Senate,  but  was  defeated.  In  1808  he 
was  chosen  an  elector  on  the  Seymour  and  Blair  ticket,  and  in  the  follow 
ing  year  removed  to  Franklin  county,  by  whose  people  he  was  in  1870 
honored  with  the  seat  he  occupies  in  the  present  House.  Since  at  the  Capi 
tal  his  usefulness,  has  in  a  measure,  been  impaired  by  feeble  health,  not 
withstanding  which,  he  has,  however,  taken  an  active  and  prominent  part 
in  the  deliberations  of  the  body,  besides  doing  valuable  service  as  chair 
man  of  the  Committee  on  Claims,  and  as  a  member  of  the  Committee  on 
Internal  Improvements.  He  is  frequently  on  the  floor,  and  is  always  lis 
tened  to  with  that  respect  and  attention  to  which  his  experience  as  a  legis 
lator  entitles  him. 


H.  K.  S.  EOBINSON. 

Though  among  the  quiet  and  modest  members  of  the  House,  no  gen 
tleman  on  the  Republican  side  of  the  chamber  has  given  closer  attention 
to  the  business  of  the  body  or  been  in  his  seat  to  respond  more  frequently 
to  the  call  of  the  roll,  than  the  worthy  member  from  the  county  of  Holt. 
Mr.  Robinson  is  a  native  of  Ohio,  and  was  born  in  Ross  county,  of  that 
State,  October  llth,  1835.  The  first  eighteen  years  of  his  life  were  spent 
on  a  farm,  after  which  he  both  attended  and  taught  school.  Subsequently 
he  also  followed  the  avocations  of  a  clerk  and  a  book-keeper  in  a  banking 
house.  On  the  outbreak  of  the  late  war,  he  recruited  a  company  and  en 
tered  the  service  as  a  lieutenant.  In  the  memorable  engagement  before 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  81 

Atlanta,  in  1SG4,  he  was  severely  wounded,  and  still  carries  a  minnie  ball 
in  his  right  shoulder.  As  a  recognition  of  his  gallantry  in  this  action,  he  was 
commissioned  a  captain,  but  shortly  thereafter  compelled  to  abandon  the 
service  on  account  of  his  wounds.  Returning  to  his  native  State  in  the 
spring  of  1865,  he  removed  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year  to  Missouri  and  set 
tled  in  Holt  county,  where  he  has  since  continued  to  reside,  and  where  he 
is  at  present  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits.  His  first  entrance  into  the 
political  arena  was  in  1870,  in  the  fall  of  which  year  he  was  elected  on  the 
Republican  ticket  in  his  county  to  the  seat  he  tills  in  the  present  Assembly. 
Making  no  pretentious  whatever  to  oratory,  lie  has  refrained  from  taking 
part  in  the  debates  of  the  session,  though  generally  well  informed  on  all 
questions  under  consideration,  and  prepared  to  vote  according  to  his  con 
victions.  He  has  served  efficiently  as  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  Be 
nevolent  and  Scientific  Institutions. 


W.  F.  IIOLSTON, 

Representing  the  county  of  Johnson,  is  a  native  of  Kentucky,  having  been 
born  in  Hart  county,  of  that  commonwealth,  October  IGth,  1825.  On  the 
outbreak  of  the  Mexican  war  he  entered  the  service,  and  continued  therein 
to  the  restoration  of  peace  as  a  Kentucky  volunteer.  In  1849,  leaving  his 
native  State  he  removed  to  Missouri,  locating  first  in  Ray  county,  and  after 
a  sojourn  of  seventeen  years  in  that  locality,  changed  his  resilience  to 
Johnson  county,  where  he  has  since  continued  to  make  his  home.  Taking 
strong  grounds  in  favor  of  the  preservation  of  the  Union  he  entered  the 
army  at  the  inception  of  the  late  war  between  the  States,  and  served  gal 
lantly  to  the  close  as  a  lieutenant  in  the  5lst  Missouri  regiment.  The  only 
civil  office  he  has  ever  held  is  his  present  seat  in  the  House.  Since  at  the 
Capital  he  has  been  rarely  out  of  his  seat,  and  his  name  will  be  found  re 
corded  on  nearly  every  roll  that  has  been  called  during  the  session.  He 
has  also  been  a  laborious  member  of  the  Committee  on  Local  Bills.  Po 
litically,  Mr.  Rolston  is  a  Republican  of  the  Liberal  school,  and  by  calling 
a  farmer. 


(5* 


PEN-PICTURES  OP  THE 


CHAELES  W.  SAMUEL, 

Representing  the  "Kingdom  of  Callaway,"  is  a  native  Missourian,  having' 
been  born  in  Palmyra,  Marion  county,  December  15th,  1830.  His  parents 
were  both  Kentuckians,  and  his  father,  who  was  a  physician, died  in  1833of 
cholera,  contracted  while  in  the  discharge  of  his  professional  duties.  Af 
ter  this  early  bereavement  the  present  Representative  was  takui  by  his 
mother  to  Callaway  county,  where  the  remainder  of  his  youth  was  spent. 
In  his  new  home  his  time  was  divided  between  attending  school  and  work 
ing  on  a  farm  up  to  1847,  when  he  went  into  a  dry  goods  house  as  a  elerk. 
After  following  this  business  for  three  or  four  years,  he  crossed  the  plains 
to  California,  and  spent  one  year  in  the  gold  regions,  at  the  expiration  Of 
that  time,  returning  home  by  way  of  Central  America  and  Havana.  On 
his  arrival  in  his  native  .State,  he  located  at  Columbia,  Boone  county 
where  he  sojourned  up  to  1853,  when  he  returned  to  Callaway  county  and 
embarked  in  business  for  himself  as  a  dry  goods  merchant,  a  calling  in 
which  he  has  been  actively  engaged  ever  since.  In  18G4  he  was  appointed 
postmaster  of  Cedar  City,  but  resigned  in  the  following  year.  In  1866  he 
was  reappointed  and  held  the  position  up  to  1870,  when  he  again  resigned. 
In  1868  he  was  a  candidate  for  a  seat  in  the  popular  branch  of  the  Twenty- 
fifth  Assembly,  but  the  registrars  being  of  a  very  different  political  faith 
from  himself,  refused  to  register  him,  and  he  withdrew  from  the  contest. 
On  receiving  a  renomination  in  1870,  he  was  elected  to  the  seat  he  occu 
pies  in  the  Twenty-sixth  Assembly  by  a  handsome  majority.  Though  an 
Old-Line  Whig  during  the  existence  of  that  party,  he  has.  under  the  new 
order  of  things,  been  a  consistent  adherent  to  the  principles  of  Democracy. 
Few  gentlemen  have  made  a  better  record  at  the  Capital,  or  have  acted  on 
all  subjects  with  a  more  scrupulous  regard  for  the  best  interests  of  their 
constituency  and  the  State  at  large.  Though  seldom  taking  the  floor, 
when  he  does  so,  he  never  fails  to  secure  an  attentive  hearing  of  his  views, 
and  generally  carries  his  points.  In  addition  to  his  services  during  the 
session  hours,  he  has  also  been  an  assiduous  laborer  in  the  committee 
room,  having  served  as  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  the  Deaf  and  Dumb 
and  Lunatic  Asylums,  and  the  committee  to  investigate  the  affairs  of  the 
81st  and  82d  regiments  of  militia,  besides  being  a  member  of  the  Commit 
tee  on  Retrenchment  and  Reform. 


LINUS    SANFOED. 

A.  brighter  or  pleasanter  face  cannot  be  found  on  the  Democratic  side 
of  the  chamber  than  that  of  the  intelligent  and  accomplished  gentleman 
who  sits  in  the  present  Assembly  as  the  Representative  of  the  old  county 
of  Cape  Girardeau.  Mr.  Sanford  is  a  native  of  Missouri  and  of  the  county 
whose  interests  have  been  intrusted  to  him  at  the  Capital,  having  been 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  83 

born  in  that  locality  January  1st,  1838.  Having  received  a  thorough  pre 
paratory  education,  lie  completed  his  scholastic  studies  at  St.  Vincent's 
College,  and  on  leaving  that  institution  entered  the  law  department  of  the 
famous  University  of  Harvard,  at  Cambridge,  Massachusetts.  On  gradu 
ating  from  the  latter  school,  he  was,  in  1861,  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  has 
since  that  date  been  successfully  engaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession 
in  his  native  county,  where  he  has  achieved  a  reputation  scarcely  second 
to  any  at  that  bar.  Though  a  zealous  and  active  Democrat,  and  possess 
ing  the  highest  qualifications,  the  only  political  position  to  which  he  has 
aspired  or  has  ever  held,  is  his  present  seat  in  the  House.  To  those  who 
know  him  most  intimately,  tin;  probable  secret  of  this  fact  is  readily  dis 
coverable  in  his  unassuming  ability  and  modest  worth,  which,  while  they 
constitute  the  best  qualification,  are  but  seldom  apt  to  secure  political  pre 
ferment.  Since  a  member  of  the  House  these  traits  of  his  character  have 
especially  marked  his  legislative  course,  and  though  rarely  absent  from 
his  seat,  and  thoroughly  informed  on  alltliat  transpires  in  the  hall,  he  has 
seldom  occupied  the  floor,  and  never,  I  believe,  made  a  set  speech.  Jn  the 
committee  room  he  has  been  an  earnest  but  quiet  worker,  and  as  a 
member  of  the  important  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  has  done  especially 
good  service. 


C.  A.  SCIIOOLEY, 

The  member  from  St.  Clair.  was  born  in  Union  county,  Pennsylvania, 
January  2'2d,  1841,  where  his  youth  and  early  manhood  were  spent,  and 
where  he  received  a  good  academic  education.  In  18(JO  lie  emigrated  from 
his  native  State  to  Nebraska,  where  he  resided  for  one  year  and  until  the 
late  war  broke  out,  when  he  entered  the  Federal  army  as  a  private  soldier. 
In  180;}  he  was  for  gallant  conduct  commissioned  a  lieutenant  and  assigned 
to  duty  on  the  staff  of  Gen.  Chetland.  and  in  1804  promoted  to  a  captaincy, 
with  which  rank  he  served  to  the  close  of  hostilities,  being  finally  mus 
tered  out  in  July,  1805.  On  the  restoration  of  peace,  he  removed  to  Mis 
souri  and  located  in  Sedalifi.  where  he  commenced  the  practice  of  the  law. 
Remaining  here  until  1809,  he  in  that  year  removed  to  St.  Clair  county, 
where  he  has  since  made  his  home  and  where  he  is  at  present  engaged  in 
farming  and  milling.  In  the  recent,  dissensions  in  the  Republican  party, 
he  espoused  the  cause  of  Liberalism,  and  received  the  nomination 
which  resulted  in  his  election  to  the  seat  he  at  present  holds  in  the  House. 
His  course  at  the  Capital  has  been  sueh  as  to  secure  for  him  the  esteem  of 
his  associates  and  the  indorsement  of  his  constituency.  Though  a  quiet 
he  has  been  an  intelligent  and  hard-working  member.  He  has  been  a, 
member  of  the  Committee  on  Swamp  Lands. 


84  PEN-PICTURES    OF   THE 

FREDERICK  SCOVILLE. 

The  acknowledged  leader  of  the  Republican  majority  in  the  last 
House,  whom  a  lucrative  Federal  appointment  afterwards  removed  to  New 
Mexico,  is  succeeded  in  the  Twenty-sixth  Assembly  by  Fred.  Scoville,  of 
Ray  county.  This  gentleman,  upon  whom  Judge  Waters'  legislative 
mantle  has  fallen,  and  who  occupies  the  same  desk,  is  also  his  partner  in 
the  practice  of  law,  a  gentleman  of  tine  legal  attainments,  and  in  every 
respect,  except  politically,  is  quite  as  efficient  a  Representative  of  his  con 
stituents,  and  enjoys  quite  as  fully  the  respects  and  esteem  of  his  associates 
as  his  more  noted  predecessor.  A  native  of  New  York,  where  he  was 
born  in  1834,  Mr.  Scoville  came  to  Missouri  in  1865,  and  located  in  the 
flourishing  town  of  Richmond,  in  Ray  county,  where  he  has  since  resided, 
and  with  whose  interests  he  has  become  thoroughly  acquainted  and  iden 
tified.  A  gentleman  of  retiring  disposition,  modestly  deferential  to  those 
of  larger  experience,  it  is  perhaps  only  in  the  committee  room  and  among 
his  personal  associates  that  his  real  worth  and  ability  are  known  and  pro 
perly  appreciated.  He  has,  I  believe,  but  once  during  the  session  occupied 
the  floor  of  the  House,  his  only  speech  being  made  in  opposition  to  the 
calling  of  a  Convention  to  revise  the  present  Constitution.  The  fact  that 
this  effort  has  not  been  followed  by  a  second  cannot,  however,  be  attri 
buted  to  his  inability  to  favorably  impress  his  hearers,  but  rather  to  his 
native  modesty  and  a  reluctance  to  thrust  himself  into  notice  at  the  ex 
pense  of  that  respect  from  his  associates,  which  his  quiet  and  dignified  re 
serve  have  won  for  him.  In  committee  labor  few  men  are  more  indus 
trious,  and  it  is  here  that  his  efforts  and  abilities  have  been  applied  with 
signal  fidelity.  Like  his  predecessor,  Mr.  Scoville  is  a  Republican. 


J.  \y.  SHAFER, 

The  member  from  Shelby,  is  a  native  of  Livingston  county,  New 
York,  thirty-seven  years  of  age,  and  a  lawyer  by  profession,  having  been 
admitted  to  the  bar  at  Rochester,  in  his  native  State,  in  1857.  Immigrat 
ing  to  the  West  in  1859,  he  located  in  Indiana  and  continued  to  reside  in 
that  State  up  to  the  outbreak  of  the  late  war.  At  the  first  call  for  troops 
he  entered  the  service  as  a  private  soldier  of  the  19th  Indiana  regiment, 
and  continued  therein  up  to  the  cessation  of  hostilities,  participating  in 
nearly  all  the  important  engagements  of  the  army  of  the  Potomac,  and 
finally  being  mustered  out  in  July,  18G5,  with  the  rank  of  Lieut,  Colonel. 
On  the  restoration  of  peace  he  removed  to  Missouri,  and  settled  in  Shelby 
county,  where  he  has  since  been  successfully  engaged  in  the  practice  of 
his  profession.  Politically,  a  Democrat  before  the  war,  a  Republican  dur 
ing  the  war  and  up  to  1870,  he  has  since  that  date  been  a  zealous  member 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  85 

of  the  Liberal  party  with  strong  proclivities  towards  his  early  political 
faith.  Elected  in  the  fall  of  1870  to  a  seat  in  the  present  House,  he  has 
taken  an  active  part  in  the  proceedings  of  that  body,  and  it  is  safe  to  say 
that  no  measure  of  importance,  and  especially  any  affecting  the  interest  of 
the  tax-payer,  has  escaped  his  careful  scrutiny,  and  when  not  in  accord 
ance  with  his  convictions  encountered  vigorous  opposition.  A  ready  and 
easy  speaker,  he  has  probably  occupied  the  floor  more  frequently  than  any 
member  of  the  body,  and  though  not  always  successful  in  carrying  his 
points,  has  placed  himself  on  record  on  almost  every  question  which  has 
entered  into  the  debates  of  the  session.  He  has  also  done  valuable  service 
as  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  County  Boundaries,  and  is  especially 
known  at  the  Capital  as  an  earnest  advocate  of  the  political  as  well  as  the 
social  rights  of  woman. 


JOIIX  SHAEP, 

The  worthy-  Representative  from  the  county  of  Schtiyler.  is  a  native  of 
Ohio,  forty-six  years  of  age,  a  farmer  by  calling,  and  in  politics  a  Liberal 
Republican.  Though  reserved  and  reticent,  seldom  occupying  the  lloor 
of  the  House  or  the  columns  of  the  official  paper,  he  is  nevertheless  a 
sharp  observer  of  all  that  transpires  in  the  hall,  and  a  faithful  guardian  of 
the  interests  of  his  immediate  constituency  and  the  State,  while  his  many 
amiable  and  kindly  qualities  of  heart  have  rendered  him  universally  popu 
lar  among  his  associates.  He  has  served  efficiently  as  a  member  of  the 
Committee  on  Mines  and  Mining. 


M.  C.  SHEWALTEE, 

One  of  the  younger  members  of  the  House,  ably  representing  the  Eastern 
district  of  Lafayette  county  in  the  present  Assembly,  was  born  in  Jeffer 
son  county.  West  Virginia,  and  is  about  thirty  years  of  age.  With  good 
common  school  opportunities  in  his  youth,  he  made  commendable  pro 
gress,  and  at  the  age  of  twelve  years  removed  with  his  parents  to  Missouri, 
locating  in  Saline  county.  Here  he  availed  himself  of  the  ordinary  means 
of  obtaining  an  education,  occasionally  teaching  school.  In  1859  he  en 
tered  McKee  College,  in  Macon  county,  remaining  there  until  the  out 
break  of  the  late  war.  Immediately  at  the  close  of  the  war  he  completed 


86  PEN-PICTURES    OF    THE 

a  course  of  law  study,  was  admitted  to  practice,  and  soon  after  removed 
to  Lafayette  county,  locating  in  Waverly.  In  1868  he  received  the  Demo 
cratic  nomination  of  his  district  for  a  seat  in  the  popular  branch  of  the 
General  Assembly,  and  was  defeated  by  a  small  majority.  In  18G9  he 
formed  a  law  partnership  and  commenced  practice.  In  1870  he  was  re- 
nominated  as  a  Democrat  lor  a  seat  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  upon 
a  fusion  ticket,  and  was  elected  by  a  handsome  majority  to  the  position 
which  he  has  since  tilled  with  marked  ability.  As  a  debater — and  a  num 
ber  of  sharp  parliamentary  encounters  have  developed  his  powers — he  has 
probably  no  superior  in  the  House.  With  a  clear,  ringing-  voice,  an  ornate 
and  finished  diction,  he  combines  a  logical  and  discriminating  mind  and  a 
rich,  almost  luxuriant  fancy.  He,  undoubtedly,  gives  rare  promise  as  one 
of  the  rising  young  men  of  the  State.  He  is  chairman  of  the  important 
Committee  on  Printing,  and  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  Constitutional 
Amendments,  besides  having  served  on  various  special  committees. 


GEO.  H.  SHIELDS, 

The  member  from  the  Hannibal  district  of  Marion  county,  is  a  native  of 
Kentucky,  having  been  born  in  Bardstown,  in  that  State,  June  19th,  1842. 
When  he  was  only  two  years  old  his  parents  immigrated  to  Missouri  and 
settled  in  Hannibal,  where  he  has  ever  since  resided,  and  with  whose  in 
terests  he  has  become  thoroughly  acquainted  and  identified.  After  a  thor 
ough  academic  education  he  perfected  himself  in  the  classics  at  Westmin 
ster  College,  at  Fulton,  in  this  State,  and  subsequently  graduated  in  law 
at  the  Louisville  University.  Entering  the  military  service  at  the  out 
break  of  the  late  war,  he  served  to  the  close,  rising  from  the  rank  of  lieu 
tenant  to  that  of  major.  Since  the  restoration  of  peace,  he  has  applied 
himself  to  the  practice  of  the  law,  and  probably  there  are  few  members  of 
the  bar  in  the  State  who,  at  his  age,  have  made  a  more  extended  reputa 
tion.  As  a  recognition  of  his  qualifications  in  this  direction  he  was  elected 
city  attorney  of  Hannibal  in  1866,  and  re-elected  to  the  same  position  in 
1867  and  1868  without  opposition,  declining  a  third  renomination  in  1869. 
He  was  in  1868  put  forward  by  his  friends  for  a  seat  in  the  popular  branch 
of  the  Twenty-fifth  Assembly,  but  owing  to  the  death  of  one  of  his 
family  withdrew  from  the  race.  Being  nominated  again  in  J870,  he  was 
elected  by  a  highly  complimentary  majority,  and  is  the  only  McClurg  Re 
publican  at  present  sitting  in  the  House  from  the  Hannibal  district.  But 
though  a  Radical,  and  while  his  Democratic  associates  find  little  congenial 
to  their  taste  in  his  political  creed,  his  professional  talent  and  amiable 
qualities  as  a  gentleman  are  generallj'  recognized,  and  have  rendered  him 
popular  with  all  parties  at  the  Capital.  Possessing  a  finished  education, 
with  fine  command  of  language,  forcible  in  argument,  and  accustomed  to 
public  speaking,  he  has  taken  a  prominent  part  in  the  legislation  of  the 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  87 

cession,  and  as  an  able  and  effective  speaker  and  logical  reasoner  always 
commands  the  attention  of  the  House  when  he  takes  the  tloor.  His  un- 
liriug  energy  and  intellectual  ability  have  entitled  him  to  bo  regauded  as 
one  of  the  leaders  of  his  party  at  the  Capital ;  and  as  chairman  of  the  im 
portant  Committee  on  Constitutional  Amendments,  and  a  member  of  the 
Judiciary  and  various  special  committees,  he  has  equally  distinguished 
himself  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties  in  the  committee  room  and  on  the 
floor  of  the  House.  As  a  mark  of  the  respect  and  esteem  entertained  for 
him  by  the  Republicans,  he,  though  a  very  young  man,  was  unanimously 
elected  permanent  chairman  of  the  Republican  State  Convention  held  in 
Jefferson  City,  February  22d,  1S72,  over  several  distinguished  competitors. 
His  youth  was  one  of  the  arguments  used  against  his  election,  on  the 
ground  that  only  a  person  of  years  and  large  experience  could  control  the 
large  assemblage.  The  result  of  Mr.  Shields'  election,  however,  did  any 
thing  but  verify  this  prediction.  The  skillful  and  impartial  manner  in 
which  he  performed  the  difficult  task  aided  greatly  in  promoting  the  per 
fect  order  and  harmony  which  prevailed,  and  won  encomiums  from  those 
who,  in  the  beginning,  were  his  strongest  opponents. 


MARIOX  SIDES, 

The  estimable  gentleman  and  worthy  member  from  Dent,  is  a  native  Mis- 
sourian,  having  first  seen  the  light  in  Perry  count}7,  January  27th,  1S.'57,  in 
which  locality  his  youth  was  spent,  and  where  he  continued  to  reside  up 
to  1SGI.  Among  the  first  to  respond  to  the  call  for  troops  for  the  late  civil 
war,  he  entered  the  service  as  a  private  soldier,  and  served  gallantly  to  the 
close,  being  mustered  out  with  the  rank  of  lieutenant.  On  the  restoration 
of  peace  he  changed  his  residence  from  Perry  to  Dent  county,  where  he 
has  since  continued  to  make  his  home,  and  with  whose  interests  he,  has 
become  thoroughly  identified.  As  an  appreciation  of  his  merits  he  was 
chosen  by  his  associates  in  his  new  home  to  represent  them  in  the  Twenty- 
fifth  Assembly,  and  the  acceptability  of  his  services  in  that  body  secured 
for  him  in  1870  a  renomination  and  re-election  to  a  seat  in  the  present 
House.  As  a  member  of  the  Twenty-sixth  Assembly  he  has  fully  availed 
himself  of  his  previous  legislative  experience  and  proven  an  active  and 
most  useful,  as  he  is  also  a  most  conscientious  member,  lie  has  been  the 
author  of  a  number  of  important  measures,  and  among  them  the  bill  to 
prevent  discrimination  and  extortion  by  railroad  companies  in  the  matter 
of  freight  charges.  He  has  also  served  as  a  member  of  the  Committees  on 
the  Library  and  Enrolled  Bills.  Politically,  a  zealous  Democrat,  he  has 
nevertheless  warm  friends  in  all  parties. 


88  PEN-PICTURES    OF   THE 

r 

K.  T.  SLOAN, 

The  clear-headed  and  capable  member  from  the  county  of  Worth,  is  a  na 
tive  of  Suckerdom.  having-  been  born  in  Vermillion  county,  of  that  State, 
July  23d,  1833.  After  receiving1  a  thorough  academic  education,  he  com 
menced  the  study  of  the  law  and  fitted  himself  for  the  practice  of  that  pro 
fession,  which  he  has  continued  to  follow  through  life.  In  1859  he  emi 
grated  from  his  native  State  to  Iowa,  where  he  made  his  home  up  to  1864, 
when  he  removed  to  Missouri  and  located  in  the  county  whose  interests 
are  intrusted  to  his  charge  in  the  present  House.  A  Union  man  during- 
the  late  war,  he  went  into  the  army  and  served  for  eight  months  as  a  lieu 
tenant  in  the  34th  Iowa  regiment.  Since  a  resident  of  Missouri  he  has  ap- 
.plied  himself  assiduously  to  the  practice  of  his  profession,  only  abandon 
ing  it  to  accept  a  seat  in  the  popular  branch  of  the  Twenty-sixth  Assem 
bly.  Politically,  a  zealous  Democrat,  he  has,  however,  in  no  instance  per 
mitted  mere  party  considerations  to  intefere  with  his  duties  as  a  legisla 
tor.  Both  during  session  hours  and  as  a  member  of  the  Committees  on 
Elections  and  County  Boundaries,  he  has  applied  himself  earnestly  and 
faithfully  to  the  discharge  of  the  duties  devolving  upon  him. 


HENRY  SMITH, 

The  gentleman  from  Clay,  who  is  among  the  younger  members  of  the 
House,  was  born  in  the  county  it  has  devolved  upon  him  to  represent  in 
the  present  Assembly,  October  28th,  1845,  his  grandfather  having  removed 
from  New  York  to  that  locality  at  an  early  day.  After  attending  the 
common  schools  of  his  native  county  for  a  number  of  years,  he  finalljr  en 
tered  William  Jewell  College  at  Liberty,  in  which  institution  he  remained 
up  to  1861,  standing  at  the  head  of  all  his  classes.  In  1862  he  removed  to 
the  neighboring  State  of  Kansas  and  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits,  re 
siding  there  up  to  the  spring  of  1863,  when  he  made  a  trip  with  a  govern 
ment  train  across  the  plains  to  New  Mexico.  Returning  home  in  the  fall 
of  the  same  year,  he  entered  the  University  of  Michigan,  from  which  in 
stitution  he  graduated  with  the  bacheloric  degree  in  1866.  From  the  same 
institution  he  also  received  the  degree  of  master  of  arts  in  1870.  Resum 
ing  his  residence  in  Kansas  on  completing  his  studies,  he  at  once  entered 
the  political  arena,  and  was  a  member  of  several  county  and  State  conven 
tions,  and  a  candidate  for  the  Legislature  from  the  county  in  which  he  re 
sided.  In  the  meantime  having  commenced  the  study  of  the  law,  he  was 
in  1867  admitted  to  the  Kansas  bar.  In  the  same  year  he  returned  to  his 
native  county,  locating  in  the  town  of  Liberty,  where  he  is  at  present  en 
gaged  in  the  practice  of  his  profession,  and  where  he  held  the  office  of 
city  attorney  for  the  years  1869  and  1870.  Elected  a  member  of  the  present 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  89 

House  as  a  Liberal  Republican,  lie  has  been  a  consistent  member  of  that 
party,  though  never  permitting  political  considerations  to  interfere  with 
his  duties  Ss  a  Representative.  Besides  taking  a  prominent  part  in  the 
deliberations  of  the  body,  being  frequently  on  the  floor  and  always  voting 
with  good  judgment,  he  has  also  served  efficiently  as  a  member  of  the  im 
portant  Committees  on  the  Judiciary  and  Education,  and  various  special 
committees.  Mr.  Smith  has  just  been  appointed  by  Gov.  Brown  and  con 
firmed  by  the  Senate  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Curators  of  the  State  Uni 
versity,  a  position  for  which  he  is  eminently  qualified. 


E.  J.  SORRELL. 

The  Democratic  Representative  of  the  county  of  Maries,  is  a  native  of 
the  Old  Dominion,  though  a  resident  of  Missouri  and  the  county  lie  rep 
resents  sufficiently  long  to  have  become  thoroughly  acquainted  with  their 
interests  and  institutions.  Born  in  tin;  year  18.'J3,  he  is  still  in  the  prime 
of  life.  A  merchant  by  calling,  he  has  nevertheless  at  all  times  taken  a 
lively  interest  in  public  affairs,  and  been  an  active  politician.  Elected  to 
a  seat  in  the  present  House  in  the  fall  of  1870,  his  course  since  at  the  Capi 
tal  has  been  marked  by  close  attention  to  his  duties  and  their  faithful  per 
formance  according  to  the  convictions  of  his  own  conscience.  Though 
making  no  pretensions  as  an  orator,  he  never  fails  to  give  expression  to  his 
views  when  impelled  by  considerations  of  duty  to  do  so.  Besides  his  ser 
vices  during  session  hours,  ho  has  neted  as  chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Permanent  Seat  of  Government  and  a  member  of  a  number  of  important: 
special  committees. 


JOHN  P.  STAXCIL, 

The  member  from  Pemiscot,  was  born  in  what  is  now  that  county  in 
1841,  his  father,  Judge  Marlin  L.  Stancil,  having  immigrated  from  Ten 
nessee  to  that  locality  during  the  preceding  year.  At  that  time  the  ex 
treme  southeastern  portion  of  the  State  was  a  comparative  wilderness, 
sparsely  populated  and  without  either  society,  schools  or  churches.  The 
employment  of  the  inhabitants  was  divided  between  the  cultivation  of 
their  newly-opened  farms  and  the  hunt,  the  one  supplying  them  with 
bread  and  the  other  being  their  only  reliance  for  meat.  Born  in  this 


90  PEN-PICTURES    OF   THE 

newly  settled  and  scarcely  civilized  country,  the  present  Representative 
had  the  further  misfortune  of  losing  his  father  when  only  fourteen  years 
of  age,  after  which  bereavement  he  was  thrown  entirely  on  n*is  own  re 
sources.  It  being  his  good  fortune,  however,  to  have-  an  intelligent 
mother,  he  received  at  her  hands  the  rudiments  of  an  education,  and  was 
enabled  to  make  such  progress  in  his  studies  that  in  1857  he  was  admitted 
to  the  junior  class  of  Clarksville  College,  in  Tennessee,  in  which  he  took 
the  first  rank  in  scholarship,  and  from  which  he  graduated  with  distin 
guished  honors.  After  completing  his  collegiate  course  he  commenced 
the  study  of  medicine,  to  which  he  applied  himself  for  eleven  months, 
when  the  late  war  breaking  out  he  enlisted  in  the  14th  Tennessee  (Con 
federate)  regiment.  Going  with  that  command  into  Western  Virginia  he 
was  there  attacked  with  a  prevailing  malady  of  the  camp,  which  necessi 
tated  his  abandoning  the  service.  Being  honorably  discharged  by  Mr. 
Benjamin,  then  Confederate  Secretary  of  War,  he  at  once  returned  to  his 
native  county,  where  he  continued  to  reside  up  to  the  restoration  of  peace. 
In  1866,  having  in  the  meantime  married  and  taken  possession  of  his 
father's  farm,  he  resumed  the  study  of  medicine,  and  in  1867  and  1868  at 
tended  the  Missouri  Medical  College  at  St.  Louis,  from  which,  after  only 
one  course  of  lectures,  he  graduated  with  honor.  On  graduating,  he  at 
once  commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  his  native  county,  which 
he  has  since  continued  to  follow.  Having  secured  in  the  highest  degree 
the  confidence  and  respect  of  his  fellow  citizens,  he  was,  in  1870,  elected 
by  a  highly  complimentary  majority  to  a  seat  in  the  present  House,  his 
opponent  in  the  contest  being  his  Democratic  predecessor  in  the  Twenty- 
fifth  Assembly.  His  course  since  at  the  Capital  has  been  marked  by  close 
application  and  a  faithful  performance  of  the  duties  devolving  upon  him, 
and  at  all  times  a  conscientious  regard  for  the  best  interests  of  his  imme 
diate  constituency.  Though  quiet  and  reserved,  there  are  few  members 
on  the  Democratic  side  of  the  chamber  more  intelligent  or  better  deserv 
ing  the  trust  imposed  upon  them. 


D.  K.  STEELE, 

Occupying  a  seat  in  the  popular  branch  of  the  Twenty-fourth,  Twenty- 
fifth,  and  now  of  the  Twenty-sixth  Assembly,  the  worthy  member  from 
Cooper,  though  a  young  man,  is  a  veteran  legislator,  and  fully  compre 
hends  all  the  duties  and  obligations  which  the  Representative  owes  to  the 
represented.  Mr.  Steele  is  a  native  Missourian,  and  was  born  in  the  coun 
ty  in  which  he  at  present  resides,  August  31st,  1831.  During  the  late  war 
he  served  gallantly  as  a  Federal  soldier  for  three  years,  and  was  promoted 
from  a  private  in  the  ranks  to  Major.  Politically,  an  Old-Line  "Whig, 
party  was  in  existence,  he  has  under  the  new  order  of 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  91 

things  been  a  consistent  and  conscientious  Republican.  He  has  in  the 
present  Assembly  served  as  a  member  of  the  responsible  Committee  on 
Accounts. 


GEO.  W.  SQUIRES, 

Representing  the  county  of  Henry,  is  notable  as  being-  the  oldest  member 
of  the  House.  He  was  born  in  Athens  county,  Ohio,  February  l.~>th,  1802, 
and  has  therefore  reached  the  allotted  age  of  man.  In  1818,  being  then  a 
lad  of  sixteen,  he  commenced  steamboating  on  the  Ohio  river  between 
the  cities  of  Pittsburgh  and  Louisville,  on  the  first  steamer  ever  launched 
on  that  stream.  After  following  this  calling  for  eighteen  years,  he  immigra 
ted  to  Missouri  and  located  in  what  is  now  Henry  but  was  then  Reeves 
county.  At  that  date  this  locality  was  comparatively  a  wilderness,  sparse 
ly  inhabited  and  infested  with  Indians  and  wild  beasts.  In  18IJ7,  the  year 
following  his  locating  in  his  new  home,  Mr.  Squires  took  command  of  a 
company  against  the  Osage  Indians,  and  a  year  later,  commanded  a  sec 
ond  company  against  the  Mormons  then  at  Fair  West,  where  he  assisted 
in  taking  the  prophet  Jo  Smith  a  prisoner.  In  1850  he  made  an  overland 
trip  to  California  in  charge  of  one  of  the  largest  trains  which,  up  to  that 
date,  had  crossed  the  plains.  After  a  sojourn  of  two  years  in  the  gold  re 
gions,  he  returned  again  to  Missouri,  engaged  in  steamboating  on  the 
Osage  river,  and  did  much  to  open  navigation  on  that  stream.  In  187)8, 
leaving  the  river,  he  went  upon  a  farm  in  Henry  county,  and  was  for  a 
time  extensively  engaged  in  raising  and  selling  stock  in  the  Southern  mar 
ket.  On  the  outbreak  of  the  late  war  he  retired  to  his  farm  and  remained 
thereon  up  to  the  restoration  of  peace.  Though  advanced  in  years,  his 
present  seat  in  the  House  is  the  only  civil  office  to  which  he  has  aspired  or 
has  ever  held.  While  the  oldest  member  of  the  body,  however,  he  is  a 
scarcely  less  attentive  or  active  participant  in  its  deliberations  than  the 
youngest  of  his  associates.  His  excellent  judgment  on  all  matters  have, 
aside  from  his  years,  secured  for  him  almost  universal  respect  at  the  Capi 
tal.  Politically,  he  is  a  life-long  Democrat,  having  cast  his  first  Presiden 
tial  vote  for  Jackson.  He  has  been  a  valuable  member  of  the  Committee) 
on  Banks  and  Corporations, 


92  PEN-PICTURES    OF    THE 

JOHN  L.  THOMAS. 

The  responsible  duties  devolving  upon  the  chairman  of  the  Committee 
on  Judiciary  renders  it  important  in  the  highest  degree  that  the  gentle 
man  for  the  position  should  be  acquainted  thoroughly  with  the  statutory 
laws,  competent  to  detect  their  defects  and  ready  to  provide  the  remedy 
where  their  operations  have  shown  a  change  to  be  required.  The  peculiar 
condition  in  which  the  present  Assembly  has  found  the  laws  enacted  by 
past  Legislatures  and  affected  by  the  recent  amendments  to  and  modifica 
tion  of  the  Constitution,  has  rendered  the  labors  of  the  Judiciary  com 
mittee  of  the  sitting  House  of  an  especially  laborious  and  delicate  char 
acter,  and  its  chairmanship  even  a  more  important  post  than  it  has  been 
for  many  years.  The  Speaker  has,  however,  found  a  gentleman  in  every 
respect  equal  to  the  emergency  in  the  person  of  Judge  Thomas,  the  ac 
complished,  clear-headed  and  indefatigable  Representative  of  the  county 
of  Jefferson.  Few  gentlemen  have  had  a  more  onorous  task  imposed  upon, 
them,  and  none,  I  am  sure,  huve  applied  themselves  more  faithfully  to  its 
discharge.  Judge  Thomas  is  a  native  of  that  portion  of  the  State  now 
known  as  Iron  county,  where  he  was  born  in  September,  1833.  His  par 
ents,  who  were  poor,  subsequently  removed  to  Washington  county,  where 
they  resided  until  1845,  when  they  removed  to  Jefferson  county,  his  present 
home.  In  the  fall  of  the  same  year  his  father  died,  leaving  him  at  the  age 
of  twelve  years  to  manage  a  small  farm  for  the  support  of  his  widowed 
mother.  After  remaining  in  his  new  home  about  five  years,  he  removed 
with  his  mother  to  Arcadia,  where  he  entered  the  Arcadia  High  School 
and  applied  himself  diligently  to  laying  the  foundation  of  the  excellent 
education  which  he  has  since  acquired.  Here  he  remained  at  school  up  to 
1853,  when  he  graduated  from  the  institution  and  went  out  into  the  world 
to  battle  for  life  without  a  dollar  in  his  pocket.  For  two  years  he  taught 
a  village  school,  and,  meantime,  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  the  law 
at  such  intervals  of  leisure  as  his  duties  as  a  teacher  permitted.  In  the 
following  year  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  commenced  the  practice  of 
his  profession  in  Crawford  county.  The  next  year  he  returned  to  Jefterson 
county  where  he  has  since  resided,  and  which  he  now  represents  in  the 
present  House.  Starting  in  life  without  education  or  money,  he  has  by 
his  own  unaided  efforts  mastered  his  profession  and  established  himsell  in 
a  large  and  constantly  increasing  practice.  Uniting  with  his  fine  abilities 
as  a  lawyer  a  genial  disposition  and  suavity  of  manner,  few  members  are 
more  esteemed  or  more  popular  among  his  associates.  A  ready  and  fluent 
speaker,  he  commands  the  attention  of  the  House,  and  by  his  logic  and 
force  of  argument  seldom  fails  to  carry  conviction  to  the  minds  of  his 
audience. 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  93 

E.  W.  TURNER, 

The  clear-headed  and  wide-awake  member  from  Clinton,  was  born  in 
Plattsburg,  in  that  county,  November  26th,  1845.  After  receiving  a 
good  common  school  education,  lie  entered  the  composing  room  of  the 
county  newspaper  published  in  his  native  village,  from  which  he  grad 
uated  a  master  of  "the  art  preservative."  After  acquiring  his  trade  he 
removed  to  Kansas,  and  for  a  short  time  worked  at  the  "case"  in  the  office 
of  the  Enquirer,  published  at  Leaven  worth  City,  in  that  State.  Leaving 
Kansas,  he  next  visited  St.  Louis,  where  he  remained  for  several  months 
in  the  office  of  the  Free  Press,  performing  the  duties  of  a  clerk.  From 
St.  Louis  he  proceeded  to  Louisville,  Ky.,  where,  after  setting  type  for 
several  months,  he  obtained  more  congenial  employment  as  a  clerk  in  one 
of  the  larger  hotels  of  that  city.  Remaining  in  Louisville  up  to  18(iG,  he 
returned  in  that  year  to  Missouri  and  settled  again  in  his  native  county, 
where  he  at  once  commenced  the  study  of  the  law,  and  where  he  is  at 
present  engaged  in  the  practice  of  that  profession.  In  the  fall  of  1870  re 
ceiving  the  nomination  for  the  Legislature,  he  was  elected  to  the  seat  he 
has  filled  with  credit  and  efficiency  in  the  present  House.  Politically,  Mr. 
Turner  is  a  Democrat  of  the  Jefter^on  school,  and  is  noted  as  standing 
almost  alone  among  his  party  associates  at  the  Capital  in  opposition  to  the 
so-called  Missouri  or  Passive  policy.  As  a  speaker,  he  is  ready,  fluent  and 
logical,  and  as  a  legislator  honest,  laborious  and  practical.  No  member 
enjoys  greater  personal  popularity  either  at  home  or  at  the  Capital. 


CHARLES  VAN  RODEN, 

Representing  the  great  mineral  county  of  Iron,  was  born  in  ITanover,  March 
8,1820.  After  serving  fora  number  of  years  in  the  army  of  his  native  coun 
try,  he  immigrated  in  1858  to  the  United  States  and  settled  in  Iron  county, 
in  this  State,  where  he  built  and  occupied  the  first  house  where  at  the 
present  time  stands  the  town  of  Pilot  Knob.  Since  in  his  new  home  he 
has  at  different  periods  followed  various  avocations,  being  at  present  en 
gaged  in  merchandising.  His  first  and  only  office  is  his  seat  in  the  popu 
lar  branch  of  the  present  Assembly,  to  which  he  was  elected  as  a  Liberal 
Republican.  Comprehending  thoroughly  the  important  interests  of  his 
county,  he  has  faithfully  represented  them  at  the  Capital,  and  has  therein 
discharged  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  constituency  the  special  obligations 
resting  upon  him.  Besides  his  labors  during  session  hours,  he  has  also 
served  efficiently  as  a  member  of  the  Committees  on  Mines  and  Mining, 
Banks  and  Corporations  and  Immigration. 


94  PEN-PICTURES   OP  THE 

OSCAK  YON  KOCHTITZKY. 

A  native  of  Hungary,  a  student  of  the  military  academy  of  Dresden, 
the  member  of  a  German  army  corps  in  the  memorable  campaign  into 
Schleswig-IIolstcin  in  the  spring  of  1848,  a  revolutionist  in  Hungary  un 
der  Kossuth  in  the  fall  of  the  same  year,  an  exile  in  Turkey  up  to  1850,  an 
emigrant  to  America,  and  an  officer  in  the  Federal  service  in  the  late  war 
between  the  States  in  this  country,  and  lastly,  Cincinnatus-like,  a  plain 
and  frugal  farmer  in  Missouri,  the  life  of  no  member  in  either  chamber 
of  the  Capital  has  probably  been  so  eventful,  or  would  better  serve  as  the 
foundation  of  a  romance  than  that  of  the  Democratic  Representative  of  the 
county  of  Laclede.  But  with  all  this  varied  experience,  his  contact  with 
all  classes  of  people,  there  is  probably  no  more  modest  or  unaffected  mem 
ber  of  the  body  in  which  he  sits,  than  Mr.  Von  Kochtitzky.  Always 
present  in  his  seat  when  questions  of  interest  are  before  the  House,  and 
closely  attentive  to  what  is  going  on  around  him,  his  vote  is  invariably 
cast  with  intelligence  and  a  rigid  regard  to  his  own  convictions.  A  mem 
ber  of  the  Committee  on  Agriculture,  and  several  important  special  com 
mittees,  and  chairman  of  the  Committees  on  Militia  and  on  Immigration, 
he  has  devoted  himself  to  the  more  responsible  duties  of  the  committee 
room  with  assiduity,  but  on  the  floor  of  the  House  he  seldom,  if  ever, 
seeks  to  make  himself  heard  when  it  docs  not  devolve  directly  upon  him 
to  do  so,  and  never  engages  in  petty  squabbles  over  insignificant  matters. 
He  both  writes  and  speaks  the  English  perfectly,  and  there  are  probably 
few  better  educated  members  in  the  body.  In  personal  appearance  Mr. 
Von  Kochtitzky  is  about  the  average  hight,  of  symmetrical  and  erect  fig 
ure,  and  with  something  of  the  military  in  his  carriage  and  address.  He 
has  an  honest  and  attractive  face,  rather  of  the  Teutonic  mold,  sandy  hair 
and  a  beard  slightly  tinged  with  gray. 


JOHN  E.  WALKER. 

Mr.  Walker  is  notable  as  being  the  youngest  member  of  the  Housev 
having  been  born  in  Cooper  county,  in  this  State,  March  18th,  18^6.  He 
is  also  probably  one  of  the  best  educated  members  of  the  body.  After  a 
thorough  academic  course  he  completed  his  studies  at  the  famous  school 
of  Yale,  and  on  leaving  that  institution  and  returning  to  Missouri,  re 
moved  to  Bates  county,  where  he  has  since  been  engaged  in  farming  and 
stock-raising,  and  by  whose  people  he  was  chosen  the  guardian  of  their 
interests  in  the  present  Assembly.  On  the  organization  of  the  House  he 
was  assigned  by  Speaker  Wilson  to  the  chairmanship  of  the  important 
Committee  on  Elections,  the  duties  of  which  he  has  discharged  with 
marked  fidelity,  impartiality  and  promptness.  He  has  also  done  service 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  95 

as  a  member  of  the  Committees  on  Printing  and  the  Blind  Asylum. 
Though  lie  is  seldom  a  participant  in  the  debates,  it  is  certainly  from  no 
lack  of  opinions  or  the  ability  to  express  them,  Mr,  Walker  is  a  Demo 
crat  of  the  strictest  school, 


J.  F.  WIELAtfDY, 

The  member  from  Cole,  was  born  in  Geneva,  Switzerland,  in  the  year 
1830,  and  received  his  education  in  the  best  schools  of  his  native  country 
and  Germany.  Immigrating  to  the  United  States  in  1849  he  located  in 
Madison  county,  Illinois,  where  he  purchased  and  settled  upon  a  farm, 
though  a  short  time  thereafter  compelled  to  abandon  that  occupation  on 
account  of  feeble  health.  On  quitting  his  farm  he  studied  law  in  Elmira, 
New  York,  and  on  being  admitted  to  the  bar  commenced  the  practice  of 
that  profession  in  Illinois,  which  he  continued  up  to  1859,  when  he  removed 
to  St.  Louis.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  late  war  he  entered  the  army  as  ad 
jutant  of  the  2d  Missouri  regiment,  and  with  his  command  served  under 
Gen.  Lyon  throughout  the  memorable  campaign  in  the  Southwest,  which 
culminated  in  the  battle  of  Wilson's  Creek.  Leaving  the  service  in  1803, 
he  removed  to  Jefferson  City,  where  he  has  since  continued  to  make  his 
home.  Under  the  administration  of  President  Johnson  he  was  appointed 
Register  of  the  Government  Land  Ollice  at  Boonville,  but  the  Senate  fail 
ing  to  confirm  the  appointment,  he  held  this  position  for  only  a  tew 
months.  He  has  for  a  number  of  years  been  a  member  of  the  State  Board 
of  Agriculture,  and  is  at  present  Secretary  of  that  body.  lie  was  also  ap- 
pointed  a  Curator  of  the  State  University  by  Governor  Brown  in  1871,  and 
still  holds  that  oftice.  lie  holds  his  seat  in  the  present  House  by  a  major 
ity  of  :50b  over  the  united  votes  of  three  opposing  candidates.  Politically, 
Mr.  Wielandy  is  a  Democrat,  having  cast  his  first  presidential  vote  for  Mr. 
Buchanan  in  185G,  though  during  the  war  a  consistent  Unionist.  Aban 
doning  the  practice  of  the  law  in  1804,  he  has  since  that  date  given  his 
time  to  farming,  and  more  particularly  to  the  cultivation  of  fruit.  He 
speaks  and  writes  several  of  the  languages  with  ease,  and  is  an  almost 
constant  contributor  to  Column's  Rural  World  and  other  agricultural 
journals,  and  is  also  an  occasional  writer  for  the  political  press.  As  a 
member  of  the  House,  he  has  distinguished  himself  by  close  attention  to 
and  the  prompt  discharge  of  his  duties,  and  by  his  services  as  chairman 
of  the  Committee  on  Agriculture. 


96  PEN-PICTURES    OF   THE 


J.  C.  WHITE, 

The  estimable  gentleman  representing  the  county  of  Texas  in  the  present 
House,  is  fifty-four  years  of  age,  and  a  native  of  Tennessee,  though  a  res 
idence  of  many  years  in  the  Southwestern  portion  of  this  State  has  thor 
oughly  identified  him  with  the  people  and  interests  of  that  section.  A 
farmer  by  calling,  he  has  never  sought  official  position,  and  his  preferment 
in  the  present  instance  is  attributable  rather  to  solicitation  of  his  friends 
and  his  personal  popularity  in  his  county,  than  to  any  wish  or  effort,  on  his 
own  part.  Mr.  White  is  politically  a  Democrat,  and  has  acted  consistently 
with  his  party  associates  in  the  House  in  all  political  questions,  though  in 
no  instance  permitting  mere  partisanship  to  govern  his  action  as  a  legisla 
tor.  He  is  among  the  quiet,  but  also  among  the  most  useful  members  of 
the  body.  He  was  assigned  by  the  Speaker  to  the  Committee  on  Federal 
Relations,  and  has  faithfully  discharged  the  duties  devolving  on  him  in 
that  connection. 


S.  A.  WIGHT. 

The  Southwest  lias  sent  no  clearer-headed,  more  faithful  or  indefati 
gable  member  to  the  present  House  than  the  worthy  Representative  of 
Vernon  county.  Few  members  have  answered  to  more  roll  calls,  and 
none  certainly  have  voted  with  better  judgment  or  more  strictly  in  ac 
cordance  with  their  convictions  of  duty  and  the  best  interests  of  their  con 
stituency.  Mr.  Wight  is  a  native  of  New  York,  having  been  born  in  St. 
Lawrence  county,  of  that  State,  October  4th,  1840.  After  receiving  a 
thoroughly  academic  education  he  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  the 
law,  reading  for  a  time  in  the  office  of  Mr.  Wynn,  a  prominent  attorney 
of  Watertown,  in  his  native  State,  and  subsequently  attending  the  law 
school  at  Albany,  from  which  institution  he  graduated  with  the  first 
honors.  On  completing  his  studies  he  was  admitted  to  practice  in  his 
native  county,  and  shortly  thereafter  removed  to  the  West,  locating  at 
Nevada  City,  his  present  home  in  Vernon  county,  where  he  at  once  took 
the  first,  rank  at  the  bar,  and  has  secured  a  large  and  lucrative  practice. 
Before  leaving  the  East  he  entered  and  served  gallantly  for  two  years  as  a 
private  soldier  in  the  army  of  the  Potomac ;  at  the  end  of  that  time  re 
ceiving  an  honorable  discharge.  Politically,  a  zealous  Democrat,  he  has 
done  much  toward  strengthening  his  party  in  his  adopted  county,  and  as 
a  recognition  of  his  services  in  this  particular  he  was  the  almost  unani 
mous  choice  of  his  party  associates  for  the  nomination  which  resulted  in 
his  election  to  a  seat  in  the  present  Assembly.  Of  his  course  at  the  Capi 
tal  I  have  already  spoken.  While  a  ready,  fluent  and  logical  debater,  he 
never  speaks  for  mere  effect,  and  has  entirely  refrained  from  indulgence 
in  the  more  frivolous  discussions  of  the  session.  The  author  of  several 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL  ASSEMBLY.  97 

important  measures,  he  has  been  untiring1  in  their  support,  while  he  ha.s 
done  excellent  service  as  a  member  of  the  important  Committees  on  Ways 
and  Means,  Criminal  Jurisprudence,  Township  Organization,  Constitu 
tional  Amendments  and  the  Judicial  Redistricting  of  the  State. 


R.  S.   WILKS, 

Representing  the  county  of  Lawrence,  is  a  native  of  Tennessee,  in  which 
State  he  was  born  in  1833.  During  his  youth  his  parents  removed  to  Mis 
souri  locating  in  Lawrence  county,  where  he  has  since  continued  to  make 
his  home,  and  where  he  is  at  present  engaged  in  the  occupation  of  farm 
ing.  Entering  the  army  at  the  outbreak  of  the  late  war,  he  served  to  the 
close  with  the  rank  of  Major.  Politically,  Mr.  Wilks  is  a  Republican, 
though  his  course  at  the  Capital  has  been  such  as  to  make  for  him  friends 
in  all  parties.  Few  gentlemen  are  personally  more  popular  among  their 
immediate  friends.  Always  observant  of  the  proceedings  of  the  body,  ho 
has  taken  an  intelligent  part  therein,  and  invariably  voted  with  good 
judgment  on  all  questions.  He  has  also  done  efficient  service  as  a  member 
of  the  Committee  on  Immigration,  and  on  a  number  of  the  more  impor 
tant  special  committees. 


31.  WILLIAMS, 

The  member  from  Audrain,  is  a  native  of  the  Old  North  State,  having 
been  born  in  Gates  county,  of  that  commonwealth,  February  12th,  1821. 
In  1831  his  parents  immigrated  to  Missouri,  and  were  among  the  first  set 
tlers  in  Call  away  county,  in  this  State.  After  a  residence  of  twenty-four 
years  in  Callaway,  Mr.  Williams  removed  to  Mexico,  his  present  home  in 
Audrain  county,  where  he  has  since  continued  to  reside.  lie  has  from 
boyhood  up  been  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits,  having  commenced  as  a 
clerk  and  subsequently  embarking  in  business  for  himself.  His  sterling 
business  habits,  strict  probity  and  pleasant  manners,  have  made  for  him 
friends  wherever  he  has  resided,  and  have  frequently  resulted  in  his  pre 
ferment  to  local  office.  The  present,  however,  is,  I  believe,  the  first  offi 
cial  position  he  has  ever  held  that  has  called  him  away  from  his  private 
pursuits.  Politically,  Mr.  Williams  is  a  zealous  and  uncompromising- 


98  PEN-PICTURES    OF   THE 

Democrat.  Since  a  member  of  the  Assembly  he  has,  besides  his  services  dur- 
hig  session  hours,  been  a  laborious  member  of  the  important  Committees 
on  Ways  and  Means  and  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  Asylum. 


J.  W.  WILLIAMS, 

In  whom  the  county  of  Morgan  has  found  a  laborious  and  conscien 
tious  Representative,  is  a  native  of  Kentucky,  having-  been  born  in  Adair 
county,  in  that  State,  January  25th,  1824.  When  an  infant  his  parents  re 
moved  to  the  neighboring  State  of  Tennessee,  where  they  remained  up  to 
1838,  when  they  removed  to  Greene  county,  in  this  State,  where  the  early 
manhood  of  the  present  Representative  was  spent  on  a  farm.  Residing 
here  up  to  1862,  he  removed  in  that  year  to  Dallas  county,  in  the  follow 
ing  year  to  Polk  county,  and  thence  to  Illinois  in  1864.  Remaining  in  Ill 
inois  only  one  year,  he  returned  to  Missouri,  and  after  a  brief  sojourn  in 
Cooper  county  finally  settled  in  the  county  where  he  at  present  resides, 
and  by  whose  people  he  has  been  honored  with  a  seat  in  the  present  As- 
gembly.  A  farmer  by  calling,  he  has  also  united  with  that  avocation  the 
duties  of  a  minister  of  the  gospel  of  the  Missionary  Baptist  faith.  Politi 
cally,  an  Old-Line  Whig,  he  has  since  the  dissolution  of  that  party  been  a 
zealous  Republican.  As  a  member  of  the  House  he  has  been  assiduous  in 
the  discharge  of  his  duties,  seldom  absent  from  his  seat  and  always  pre 
pared  to  vote  with  good  judgment.  The  only  committee  on  wh*ich  he  has 
done  service  has  been  that  on  Elections,  the  duties  of  which  were  chiefly 
performed  during  the  regular  session. 


ROBERT  F.  WINGATE. 

Mr.  Stone,  who,  a  lucrative  appointment  under  the  administration 
of  Mayor  Brown,  induced  to  resign  his  seat  as  Representative  of  the 
Eleventh  district  of  St.  Louis,  is  succeeded  in  the  adjourned  session  of  the 
House  by  a  gentleman  of  scarcely  less  distinguished  abilities,  though  of 
widely  different  political  tenets.  General  Wingate  was  born  in  Boonc 
county,  Kentucky,  January  24th,  1822,  and  removed  with  his  parents  to 
Gallatin  county,  Illinois,  in  1834,  where  he  worked  on  a  farm  for  four 
years.  At  the  expiration  of  this  time  he  left  the  parental  roof,  and  with 
only  three  dollars  in  his  pocket,  made  his  way  to  Mt.  Vernon,  in  Jefferson 


TWENTY-SIXTH   GENERAL  ASSEMBLY.  99 

county,  of  that  State,  where  he  attended  school,  supporting  himself  in  the 
meantime  by  working-  mornings  and  nights  at  such  employment  as  he 
could  manage  to  find.  Having  by  this  means  acquired  a  fair  scholastic 
education,  he  removed  to  Columbus,  Indiana,  where  he  commenced  the 
study  of  the  law  in  the  office  of  a  relative  residing  at  that  place.  Prose 
cuting  his  studies  here  until  admitted  to  the  bar,  he  returned  to  Mt.  Ver- 
n on  and  commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession,  which  he  continued  to 
follow  until  1S53,  when  he  removed  to  St.  Louis,  where  he  is  still  engaged 
in  the  practice,  and  where,  by  application,  industry  and  frugality,  he  has 
acquired  a  handsome  fortune.  In  1862  he  was  elected  from  the  district  he 
at  present  represents  to  a  seat  in  the  popular  branch  of  the  Assembly. 
While  a  member  of  that  body,  he  introduced  a  resolution  instructing  our 
Congressmen  to  propose  an  amendment  to  the  Federal  Constitution  abol 
ishing  the  institution  of  shivery  throughout  the  States,  this  being  the  first 
time  that  such  a  measure  had  been  proposed,  and  it  is  worthy  of  note  that 
the  very  amendment  subsequently  adopted  is  in  language  identically  that 
first  suggested  by  the  present  Representative.  Having  filled  his  seat  in 
the  House  np  to  1SG4,  he  was  in  that  year  elected  Attorney  General  of 
the  State,  in  which  capacity  he  continued  to  serve  up  to  1860.  At  the  same 
time  he  also  served  as  a  judge  advocate  under  appointment  of  the  Gover 
nor.  On  the  expiration  of  his  official  term  he  returned  to  the  practice  of 
his  profession  in  St.  Louis,  to  which  he  continued  to  devote  himself  up  to 
his  election  to  a  seat  in  the  present  House.  Preceded  by  a  reputation 
achieved  in  the  earlier  days  of  his  legislative  experience,  Mr.  Wingate  as 
sumed  at  once  a  position  second  to  none  of  his  associates  on  the  Republi 
c-can  side  of  the  chamber,  in  which  his  course  throughout  the  present  ses 
sion  has  fully  sustained  him.  With  a  tine  command  of  language,  acute 
reasoning  powers,  and  a  naturally  logical  mind,  he  has  taken  an  active 
part  in  the  debates  of  the  bod}r,  and  never  fails  to  command  the  respectful 
attention  of  his  audience. 


CUSTIS  WOBDEN, 

Whose  name  occurs  last  on  the  roll  of  the  House,  and  who  represents  in 
the  present  Assembly  the  county  of  Cass,  is  a  New  Yorker,  having  been 
born  in  Chenango  county,  in  that  State,  July  20th,  1820,  where  he  was 
raised  on  a  farm.  Immigrating  to  the  West  in  1840,  he  located  first  in 
Ohio,  subsequently  in  Illinois,  and  finally  settled  in  the  county  whose  in 
terests  have  been  intrusted  to  his  charge  in  the  present  House.  Adopting 
the  calling  of  a  farmer  when  a  boy.  lie  has  followed  that  independent  avo 
cation  through  life  in  connection  with  stock  raising,  in  which  he  is  at  pres 
ent  extensively  engaged.  The  only  official  trust  he  has  ever  sought  or 
had  imposed  upon  him,  is  that  which  he  holds  at  this  time  in  the  House. 
In  politics,  he  was  an  Old -Line  Whig  so  long  as  that  party  was  in  existence, 


100  PEN-PICTURES   OF   THE 

and  since  its  dissolution  he  has  been  a  zealous  and  consistent  Republican. 
Among  the  more  reticent  members  of  the  body  in  which  he  sits,  he  has, 
nevertheless,  been  a  hard-worker  throughout  the  session,  seldom  absent 
from  his  seat,  and  closely  observant  of  all  that  transpires  in  the  hall.  He 
has  also  done  valuable  service  as  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  Town- 
ihip  Organization  and  the  Committee  on  Accounts. 


THE    CORRESPONDENTS'    TABLE. 


MAJ.  JOHN  N.  EDWAEDS. 

This  gentleman,  who,  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Regan,  is  Public  Prin 
ter  of  the  House,  as  well  as  Capital  correspondent  of  the  Kansas  City 
Times,  was  born  in  Farquhar  county,  Virginia,  and  was  educated  in 
Washington  City.  He  learned  the  printer's  art  in  Lexington,  Missouri. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  war  he  entered  the  Confederate  service  as  a 
private.  Though  unpretentious  and  retiring,  he  was  rapidly  promoted, 
and  soon  became  Major  General  Joe  Shelby's  Adjutant  General.  Of  his 
military  life,  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  it  was  brilliant  and  unstained  by 
a  single  act  unworthy  a  soldier.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  war,  with 
some  comrades-in-arms,  he  went  to  the  city  of  Mexico,  where  for  two 
years  he  edited  a  newspaper  in  the  imperial  interest.  The  fall  of 
Maximilian  caused  Maj.  Edwards'  return  to  Missouri,  where  he  pro 
cured  a  position  on  the  staff  of  the  Missouri  Republican.  He  there  wrote 
the  book  entitled  "Shelby  and  his  Men."  He  next  became  an  assistant- 
editor  of  the  Kansas  City  Times,  but  after  a  brief  service  became  chief 
editor  of  that  influential  journal.  He  spends  his  winters  at  Jefferson 
City  as  correspondent  of  his  paper.  As  a  newspaper  correspondent,  it  is 
safe  to  say  that  he  is  unsurpassed  in  this  State  and  probably  in  this  coun 
try.  His  style  is  pure,  graceful  and  terse.  His  letters  are  full  of  humor, 
his  sketches  are  vivid  and  racy,  and  there  is  a  quaintness  of  imagery  and 
warmth  of  sentiment  that  remind  you  of  the  aromatic  sweetness  of  the 
nosegay. 


WILLIAM  FAYEL, 

The  correspondent  of  the  Missouri  Republican,  and  the  best  known  of  all 
the  newspaper  gentlemen  at  the  Capital,  was  born  in  Otsego  county,  New 
York.  During  his  youth  he  enjoyed  the  advantages  of  the  best  schools  of 


TWENTY-SIXTH   GENERAL  ASSEMBLY.  101 

his  section,  and  early  developed  a  passion  for  books:-.  whldi  ;h.r?«  given  - 
him,  in  his  maturer  years,  a  rich  store  ot  varied  and  useful  information, 
In  1852,  having  taken  some  part  in  previous  political  campaigns,  he  was 
induced  to  make  a  race  for  the  Legislature  on  the  Whig  ticket  in  Jefferson 
county,  of  his  native  State.  Fortunately,  perhaps,  he  was  defeated,  as  his 
well-known  independence  of  character  would  have  been  a  bar  against  pro 
motion  in  political  life.  A  portion  of  1853  he  passed  in  Washington  City 
as  correspondent  of  the  Black  River  Journal,  and  this  was  his  tirst  intro 
duction  into  newspaper  life.  In  1855  he  purchased  an  interest  in  the  Lock- 
port  (Niagara  county)  Journal,  and  his  active  journalistic  career  dates  from 
this  period.  His  paper  was  Whig,  but  shortly  became  Republican  in  pol 
itics—the  former  party  being  merged  into  the  latter.  lie  was  one  of  seven 
who  recommended,  in  an  address,  a  union  of  the  two  parties  in  Niagara 
county,  although  it  is  surmised  that,  in  later  years,  he  was  not  very  proud 
of  the  vote  he  cast,  in  1856,  for  the  so-called  "Pathfinder,"  Fremont. 
Mr.  Fayel  remained  in  the  Lockport  Journal  until  about  the  commence 
ment  of  the  late  war,  and  great  popular  demonstrations  were  being  made 
all  over  the  State  against  those  who  sympathized  with  the  South.  Several 
of  the  Democratic  newspaper  establishments  in  his  vicinity  were  mobbed, 
and  their  editors  compelled  to  tlee  to  Canada.  Tin;  Lockport  DnUy  Ad 
vertiser  and  Niagara  Donocrat  were  threatened,  and  its  editor  besought 
Mr.  Fayel  to  save  his  establishment.  The  request  was  complied  with  by 
Mr.  F.,  who  immediately  hoisted  the  stars  and  stripes  over  the  office  and  thus 
placed  the  paper  on  an  intensely  loyal  basis.  In  July.  18G1,  Mr.  Fayel  ar 
rived  in  St.  Louis,  and  immediately  attached  himself  to  the  Missouri  Dem 
ocrat  as  its  war  correspondent.  '  lie  was  with  Curtis  on  his  Southwest  and 
Arkansas  campaigns.  His  letters,  over  his  own  signature  of  "Fayel," 
were  rend  with  great  interest,  and  republished  in  most  of  the  principal 
papers  of  the  country.  After  Gen.  Curtis'  campaigns,  Mr.  Fayel  settled 
in  St.  Louis,  where,  for  four  or  live  years,  he  filled  the  position  of  local 
editor,  respectively,  of  the  Dally  Union  and  the  Daily  Ei-atiny  Xcw.-s.  In 
1SG7  he  became  permanently  employed  on  the  Missouri  Ifc^hlicun  as  a 
local  writer  and  correspondent,  and  his  letters  from  the  Indian  country  to 
that  journal  greatly  enhanced  his  former  brilliant  reputation  as  a  letter 
writer.  In  1807-8  he  accompanied  the  Indian  Peace  Commission,  visiting 
nearly  all  of  the  Indian  tribes  on  the  Upper  Missouri  and  the  Southern 
tribes  at  Medicine  Lodge  Creek,  writing  most  interesting  letters,  descrip 
tive  of  scenery,  savage  life  and  passing  events,  to  his  paper.  In  1870  he 
went  with  a  committee  of  the  Board  of  Indian  Commissioners,  acting  as 
secretary  of  the  committee — Mr.  Felix  Bruno  and  Col.  Robert  Campbell — 
and  the  Republican's  correspondent.  During  the  following  autumn,  he  ac 
companied  Commissioners  Campbell,  Long  and  Farwell  to  the  great  In 
dian  Council  at  Okmulgee,  in  the  same  dual  position.  It  is  sufficient  to 
say  that  the  Commissioners,  in  making  up  their  reports,  drew  largely  on 
Mr.  Fayel's  correspondence,  while  his  letters  were  extensively  republished 
all  over  the  country,  and  regarded  as  good  authority  by  high  officials  and 
those  interested  in  the  character  and  status  of  the  ••gentlemen  without 
hats,"  as  Mr.  Faj'el  facetiously  styled  them.  For  ten  winters  Mr.  Fayel 
has  attended  the  sessions  of  the  Missouri  Legislature  in  the  capacity  of 
correspondent,  and  all  connected  with  the  General  Assembly  and  Execu 
tive  departments  respect  him  for  his  splendid  capacity,  his  great  moral 
worth  and  kind  and  genial  nature. 


102  PEN-PICTURES    OP   THE 

GEOKGE  W.  GILSON. 

Major  Gilson,  the  well-known  correspondent  at  the  Capital  of  the 
Missouri  Democrat,  was  born  in  1832,  near  Cleveland,  Ohio.  In  1840,  dur 
ing  the  "hard  cider  campaign,"  he,  with  his  father,  accompanied  Tom. 
Corwin,  Thomas  L.  Ewing,  and  other  Whig  orators  of  that  dav,  in  a 
stumping  tour  over  the  State.  Perched  on  cider  barrels,  vast  political  as 
semblages  were  treated  to  oratorical  harangues  and  campaign  songs,  in 
which  young  Gilson,  though  a  mere  stripling,  was  a  welcome  amareur. 
At  eleven  years  of  age  he  was  an  apprentice  in  a  printing  establishment, 
where,  during  a  term  of  four  years,  he  became  a  proficient  in  the  business, 
and  at  the  age  of  fifteen  served  as  journeyman,  thus  becoming  fully  versed 
in  the  practical  workings  of  journalism.  The  Mexican  war  was  raging  at 
this  time,  and  though  still  a  mere  youth,  his  patriotic  ambition  was  fired, 
and  he  went  as  a  private  soldier  in  the  army  of  invasion  of  our  neighbor 
ing  Republic.  His  father  sought  to  oppose  his  going,  and  being  an  Old- 
Line  Whig,  appealed  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  and  even  demanded  of  Gen. 
Scott,  with  whom  he  had  served  as  captain  of  cavalry  in  1812,  the  imme 
diate  discharge  from  the  army  of  his  youthful  son.  Young  Gilson  was 
attached  to  a  battalion  of  regulars,  which  comprised  a  portion  of  the  gar 
rison  at  Puebla  for  several  months.  He  spent  nearly  a  year  with  the  army, 
having  in  the  meantime  marched  with  the  invaders  into  the  City  of  Mex 
ico.  Having  participated  thus  gallantly  with  the  defenders  of  his  country 
as  sergeant  of  his  company,  he  returned  home.  He  came  to  Missouri  in 
1850,  since  which  time,  with  the  exception  of  three  years  service  in  the 
late  war,  he  has  passed  his  time  in  this  State,  engaged  in  various  newspa 
per  offices  as  printer,  foreman,  publisher  and  editor.  In  1857  he  filled  the 
position  of  superintendent  of  the  Missouri  Statesman,  at  Columbia,  under 
the  veteran,  Col.  Switzler.  The  next  year,  1858,  was  passed  in  Kansas 
City  as  editor  and  publisher  of  the  Western  Metropolitan,  a  paper  ot  Free 
State  proclivities.  For  several  year's  past  Maj.  Gilson  has  been  connected 
with  the  Missouri  Democrat,  holding  positions  on  the  reportorial  and  edi 
torial  staff  of  that  widely  known  and  popular  journal.  In  these  varied 
capacities  he  has  won  a  marked  influence  as  an  enterprising  correspondent 
and  able  writer.  As  a  journalist,  Maj.  Gilson  wields  a  fluent  pen,  and  his 
great  experience,  fine  taste  and  excellent  judgment  renders  him  an  inval 
uable  attache  to  a  "'live  newspaper."  During  the  war,  Maj.  Gilson  held 
several  commissions  in  the  service.  In  1864,  and  part  of  1865,  he  filled  the 
position  ot  Inspector  General  of  the  St.  Louis  military  district,  then  em 
bracing  a  territory  which  took  in  all  of  St.  Louis  and  Southeast  Missouri. 
In  this  position  he  won  high  commendation  from  his  superiors  and  the 
War  Department.  Honorable  mention  and  the  appointment  by  brevet  to 
Brigadier  General  was  tendered. 


TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY.  103 

JOHN  AY.  PATTISOtf, 

House  reporter  of  the  Missouri  Republican,  was  born  in  Fairlield  county, 
Connecticut,  in  1834,  is  now  thirty-eight  years  of  age,  and  a  graduate  of  the 
Wesleyan  University.  At  twenty  years  of  age,  he  assumed  the  editorial 
management  of  the  S.  W.  Advocate,  Gov.  Floyd's  home  organ,  at  Tazewell 
Court  House,  Virginia.  Early  in  the  summer  of  1854  he  migrated  to 
Omaha,  Nebraska,  and  started  the  rirst  paper  in  that  territory,  the  ''Oma 
ha  Arrow,"  and  assisted  materially  in  adding  to  the  prosperity  of  that  sec 
tion.  During  the  years  of  1855-G  he  was  the  spicy  frontier  correspondent 
of  the  Now  York  Herald  and  Tunes,  and  then  again  editor  of  the  Omaha 
Times,  lie  was  a  captain  of  a  volunteer  infantry  in  the  early  Indian  trou 
bles  in  Nebraska,  and  was  deputy  and  acting  U.  S.  Marshal  of  the  terri 
tory.  In  1859  he  started  the  Southwestern  lowan,  a  successful  Democratic 
paper  at  Sidney,  Fremont  county,  Iowa,  where  lie  remained  until  the  sec 
ond  year  of  the  war,  when  he  joined  the  Federal  forces,  and  served  witli 
credit  until  the  close  of  the  war.  Then  he  became  city  editor  of  the  Quin- 
cy  (111.)  Daily  Herald,  and  afterward  editor  of  the  Quincy  Evening  Journal. 
Later,  he  was  editor  of  a  live  Democratic  paper  at  Savannah,  "The  Union," 
in  Andrew  county,  and  about  three  years  ago  joined  the  rvportorial  force 
of  the  Missouri  Republican.  Latterly,  he  has  become  part  proprietor  of 
the  Boonville  Aih-crtixcr,  a  leading  Democratic  paper  of  Central  Missouri. 
Mr.  Pattison  has  had  some  sixteen  years'  experience  of  successful  editorial 
life,  is  a  spicy,  agreeable  writer,  brim-full  of  progress,  and  thoroughly  de 
voted  to  the  growth  and  interest  of  the  Great  West,  over  which  he  has  cx- 
tensively  traveled,  lie  is  a  staunch  Democrat,  a  man  of  family,  and  has 
a  host  of  friends  throughout  the  West. 


JAMES  HOLLAND, 

Correspondent  of  the  Missouri  Democrat,  was  born  in  Dublin,  Ireland,  in 
the  year  184G,  and  is  consequently  now  twenty-six  years  of  age.  lie  attend 
ed  the  school  of  Dublin  until  the  year  1SG1,  when  he  became  secretary  to 
Lord  Digby.  in  London.  After  remaining  with  this  nobleman  about  three 
years,  Mr.  Holland  left  England  for  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  passed  some 
time  in  Southern  Africa,  engaging  in  elephant  and  ostrich  hunting  and 
traveling  through  the  countries  of  the  Ilotentots,  Kaffirs,  Damaras  and 
Bushman.  Finally  leaving  Africa  and  afterward  visiting  the  Island  of  St. 
Helena,  he  came  to  the  United  States  in  1SG8,  and,  after  traveling  in  dif 
ferent  parts  of  the  country,  eventually  settled  in  St.  Louis  in  the  latter 
partof!8G9,  where,  after  sometime,  he  entered  into  a  business  partner 
ship  with  Mr.  L.L.  Walbridge,  of  St.  Louis,  forming  the  firm  of  short-hand 
writers,  known  under  the  title  of  Walbridge  &  Holland.  Mr.  Holland  is 
one  of  the  moot  accomplished  short-hand  \\ritersin  the  country,  and  in 
reporting  the  proceedings  of  the  House  for  the  paper  he  represents,  has  ex 
hibited  remarkable  ability  in  his  profession. 


104   PEN-PICTURES    OF   THE    TWENTY-SIXTH    GENERAL   ASSEMBLY. 

STANLEY  WATEELOO. 

Mr.  Waterloo  has  been  a  correspondent  at  the  Capital  for  various 
newspapers,  but  he  represents  more  particularly  the  St.  Louis  Journal  of 
Commerce,  as  its  political  writer.    His  comments  of  legislative  doings  are 
characterized  by  a  raciness,  mixed  with  a  sprinkling  of  dry  humor.    He 
was  born  in  St.  Clair,  Michigan,  in  184G.    The  first  fifteen  years  of  his  life 
were  passed  on  a  farm.    In  18G1  he  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits,  and 
kept  a  store  on  the  line  of  the  Grand  Trunk  railroad,  in  the  State  of  Michi 
gan.    This  pursuit  he  followed  about  a  year,  and  then  prepared  for  college. 
He  entered  the  University  of  Michigan  in  1865,  and  engaged  in  teaching  a 
short  time  thereafter,  and  in  the  latter  part  of  1869  came  to  Chicago.    In 
that  city  he  spent  six  months  in  studying  law,  and  during  spare  intervals, 
did  Bohemian  work  on  the  city  newspapers.    He  engaged  as  reporter  on 
the  Evening  Post,  but  after  a  short  time  left  that  paper  to  become  associ 
ate  editor  on  the  Insurance  Spectator,  owned  by  the  Goodsells.    In  1870 
he  left  the  Spectator  and  assumed  the  editorship  of  the  American  Builder, 
a  technical  magazine  devoted  to  the  advancement  of  the  profession  indi 
cated  by  the  title.    The  position  was  congenial  with  his  tastes.    The  arti 
cles  emanating  from  his  pen,  are  his  specialty,  were  republished  in  this 
country  and  England.    He  remained  thus  engaged  until  the  Great  Fire 
obliged  him,  like  hundreds  of  others,  to  seek  another  home.    He  came  to 
publish  the  Builder  in  St.  Louis  after  the  fire,  but  was  offered  a  position  as 
a  political  writer  on  the  Journal  of  Commerce,  which  offer  was  accepted. 
Mr.  Waterloo  is  still  in  the  summer  of  life — being  twenty-six  years  of 
age — and  with  his  ability  and  capacity  for  work  has  a  brilliant  future  be 
fore  him. 


G.  W.  FEAME, 

One  of  the  representatives  at  the  Capital  of  the  St.  Louis  Times  during  the 
adjourned  session,  is  a  native  of  Missouri,  having  been  born  in  Daviess 
county,  February  18th,  1850.  He  is,  therefore,  the  youngest  member  of 
the  correspondents'  and  reportorial  corps  of  the  House.  After  receiving 
a  good  education,  he  turned  his  attention  to  journalism,  and  in  1867  pur 
chased  the  Gallatin  Democrat,  which  he  conducted  successfully  for  two 
years.  After  this,  he  became  attached  to  the  staff  of  the  Kansas  City 
Evening  News,  and  subsequently  of  the  Times  of  the  same  city.  An  easy 
and  racy  writer,  and  still  quite  young,  he  gives  promise  of  making  his 
mark  in  his  profession. 


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